Potato soup

December 7, 2010  •  Category:

 

When soup is so easy to prepare, why but why do I not make it more often?


I had bought a roasted chicken; used the carcass to make the chicken stock, had some potatoes laying around, some cilantro pesto in the freezer waiting to be used up and voilà!

Sure, it is not sophisticated, not fancy, and frankly, I don’t care!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 6 cups of strong chicken bouillon
  • 2 pounds of potatoes ( I used a mixture of sweet and white fingerling)
  • 1 pound of onion, chopped (can replace with leeks, which would have an even better flavor)
  • olive oil
  • 3 Tablespoons of cilantro pesto (using a bunch of cilantro and 6 cloves of garlic)

METHOD:

  1. Make a chicken stock by boiling the carcass of a chicken or a few chicken pieces for one hour or longer, until the stock is very fragrant; strain it and reduce it by one third to make it even more concentrated.
  2. Fry the onions in some olive oil until browned and add them to the chicken stock; add the diced potatoes, a cinnamon stick and salt and pepper. Simmer the mixture for 30 minutes or longer, adding two or three cups of water if needed, until the potatoes are soft and cooked.
  3. Whisk the cilantro pesto (or basil pesto) in the soup the last 5 or 10 minutes of cooking. Serve.

For a cilantro pesto recipe, click here.

Comments

31 Comments  •  Comments Feed

  1. Christine @ Fresh says:

    I like that you added sweet spices to this soup and mixed in sweet potatoes. It’s so rare that I see that combination. I will have to try making cilantro pesto too. I often have extra cilantro that goes to waste at the end of the week. Freezing them is a great idea.

  2. MaryMoh says:

    Mmmm…simple and delicious! In freezing Scotland, any soup is most welcoming! I will drink a huge bowl of your soup 😀

  3. Sommer @ ASP says:

    What a fresh take on potato soup! Most of the recipes I’m familiar with are creamy. This looks just lovely!

  4. James Walsh says:

    Great to see this post on soup. I love soup and make a cabbage , bacon and potato soup quite often as well as a baked potato, bacon and sour cream soup. Potato is a great base. Nice post.

  5. SYLVIA says:

    This is a very warming soup, high in fiber and very filling, if you have soup before a meal it helps you control your hunger and you eat less. Joumana sometimes the simplest of recipes are the most delicious, the vegetables that you used in the soup look like little gold nuggets. This in front of fire and watching a movie on a Friday night spells comfort to me.

  6. Corliss says:

    Hi,
    Your potato soup seems simple enough to make, even for novices like moi. Can’t wait to try it. Thanks for sharing.

  7. Rosa says:

    A great soup! I like that addition of cilantro pesto.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

  8. Katerina says:

    When it comes to soup I don’t care about fancy or elegant, I just want to dive into it. This looks like the perfect soup for me.

  9. Heni says:

    I like how used sweet potatoes here – and the cilantro pesto was interestingly unexcepte – def bookmarked!

  10. Sushma Mallya says:

    sounds good, very nice soup

  11. deeba says:

    A crust of bread and a bowl of this wonderful soup is what I need Joumana…how intriguing that it has cilantro pesto. Mmmm

  12. TheKitchenWitch says:

    It looks delicious and sounds really healthy! I love the addition of pesto.

  13. arthur says:

    Great soup to make for these rainy days in the Bay Area! Wonderful recipe I can whip up quickly and crawl back to bed. What a comfort food! Thanks for sharing!

  14. Barbara says:

    I know, I don’t make it often enough either. When my parents were alive, I made soup for them every week. Guess I got tired of it!
    But this recipe looks tempting, Joumana!

  15. Marysol says:

    Soup is not meant to be sophisticated. It is meant to warm and comfort your very soul…and your tummy too.

  16. Mary says:

    What a luscious sounding take on potato soup. I love the addition of pesto. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings…Mary

  17. Sue Stephens says:

    Just what we need to warm us up! The cold weather here has the whole family asking for soups and stews. Thanks for the recipe – it will make a lovely change from my usual leek and potato soup!

  18. Faith says:

    I agree, soups are a delicious way to use up ingredients that are on hand. This looks healthy and super flavorful, Joumana!

  19. Caffettiera says:

    It is literally packed with flavour. A great take on potato soup. And soup is exactly what I want to eat now, with the snow out there approaching one meter height. Great recipe to make with pantry items as well: I need to stock mine with some frozen cilantro pesto asap!

  20. T.W. Barritt says:

    How wonderful to add sweet potatoes and cinnamon – not fancy, but nutritious and deeply warming! I’ve been trying to push myself to do more soup, too. It’s very satisfying.

  21. Damaris @Kitchen Cor says:

    I’m a huge fan of soups myself but my husband not so much. Potato soup is delish.

  22. Cynthia says:

    Sounds mighty delicious to me.

  23. turkey's for life says:

    If it’s not ‘sophisticated’ and not ‘fancy’, it usually tastes better! 🙂 Home made soup is just the ultimate in contentment. This looks lovely!

  24. Diane says:

    Can you believe, it I have never made potato soup!! Potato and leek yes, and I sometimes put them in my pumpkin soup but never just potato. Guess what my next soup is going to be 🙂 Diane

  25. Adelina says:

    Love the cilantro pesto in the soup… what a great idea!

  26. Devaki says:

    Please please come over and make me some of this. Cilantro and garlic and potatoes and carcass chicken stock…what else could a girl want!

    Ciao, Devaki @ weavethousandflavors

  27. Oui, Chef says:

    I LOVE LOVE LOVE soups like this, absolutely perfect! – S

  28. Doc says:

    Keeping the doctors away, indeed! Your brother and I may have to have a chat with you! Of course, if you left those delectable goodies somewhere I could get at them it would keep me away. I suppose that fantastic chicken soup has the medicinal properties to keep us out of business as well! LOL. BTW, I can just see Bill Cosby pushing your “chocolate pudding”-good one!

  29. Nadia says:

    during these winter months i eat soup quite often. thanks for adding another one for me to try. this one looks oh so comforting!

  30. Karolina says:

    My partner likes potato soups A LOT! I was running out of the ideas and however I make soup with ground coriander I never though about using fresh cilantro with this kind of soup. I will havve to try it one day. It looks like it is easy to make, compforting and appetising.

  31. Jeannie says:

    I find it very interesting that you used sweet potatoes in savoury soup! Looks so delicious!

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