Comfort Food

It's Sunday evening, you've had a long week and you are hungry, but you don't want to cook a huge meal.  You want comfort food, something that makes you feel good and doesn't take all evening to prepare.  What do I turn to?  Potato soup - my ultimate comfort food.  The soup mom always fixed for us when we were not feeling well.  She made hers quite a bit differently, but I always loved it.   I fix it when I'm tired and want an easy meal that's quick and tastes wonderful.  It's got potatoes, cheese and bacon.  What can I say?

Now I have to confess, I have never met a potato I didn't like.  Guess you could call me an addict.  I could eat potatoes every meal.  This soup is easy to prepare and tastes so good.  I actually took this soup up a notch by turning it into a corn and potato chowder.  Even better.  Here is what you do.

Ingredients:

8 cups diced potatoes, peeled

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 Tbsp. butter

1 box chicken stock (4 cups)

3 ears corn, scrape kernels from cob

1/2 cup sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:

2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill

1/2 pound bacon, fried extra crisp

grated cheddar cheese

To make soup, peel and dice potatoes until you have 8 cups.  Chop 1 large onion.

Take 5 qt dutch oven or large pan that you can cover, add 4 TBSP butter, melt over low heat.

Add chopped onions and minced garlic, sweat onions until softened, stirring so garlic does not burn.  Add potatoes and chicken stock.  If stock does not cover potatoes, add enough water to cover.  Place lid on pan and cook until potatoes are soft.  About 20 minutes.  While potatoes are cooking, cut corn from the cob.

Potatoes will take about 20 minutes or so to soften.  Just as they are fork tender, add corn.   Corn cooks quickly in the hot soup.  Add salt and pepper at this point.  Potatoes absorb a lot of salt.  It is better to add salt toward the end of cook time so as not to over salt.  Add fresh cracked pepper.  Let cook about 8-10 minutes and add 1/2 cup sour cream.  Stir to blend, turn off heat, add the chopped dill and replace lid.   Let sit a few minutes to allow the flavors to blend.    The starch from the corn will thicken the soup.  

While the soup is cooking, fry bacon extra crisp.  Drain on paper towels, crumble in a bowl.  Place grated cheddar cheese in bowl.   Serve the potato corn soup in individual bowls, allowing everyone to add as much bacon and cheese as they like.

You may want to serve a sandwich or salad with the soup.  We like to eat just the soup!  This is so good and it is not like wall paper paste which is something I do not like about the potato soup served in most restaurants.  There are actually potatoes in the soup which is another plus.  And, you can control the amount of cheese.  It melts quickly into the hot soup.  Many restaurant potato soups are too cheesy for my liking.  

For me, this is a quick and easy meal that is so comforting, filling, and super delicious.  Give it a try.  You are going to like it I know!  It is the ultimate comfort food.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

The quieter you become, the more you can hear. – Baba Ram Dass