Silky-Smooth Potato Soup Recipe

Cold weather ushers in the start of soup season since not only are we in the mood to eat something hot and hearty, but we also don't mind staying inside and stirring a simmering pot for as long as it takes. Just about anything can go into a soup, including such high-end ingredients as lobster and roast duck, but for those times when we need something a bit more budget-friendly (like the post-holiday penny pinching that begins when all the bills come due), you can't do much better than a soup made of potatoes.

Recipe developer Catherine Brookes calls her silky-smooth potato soup recipe "the perfect warming winter meal," adding, "It's wholesome, flavorful, and filling." She likes to make her soup with heavy cream, telling us this gives it "an even smoother texture and richer taste," she does say that it is okay to substitute half-and-half for a soup that is just a bit lighter and lower in calories.

To make this soup, you will need some large baking potatoes as well as an onion and a few cloves of garlic. You will also be using olive oil and stock for cooking, salt and pepper for seasoning, and cream to make the soup, well, creamy.

Brookes uses vegetable stock to make her potato soup, something which results in a vegetarian (although not vegan) dish). She does say, however, that you can use chicken stock if this is something you prefer or happen to have in the refrigerator.

Heat the oil in a pan with the burner set to medium, then fry the onion for about 5 minutes until it's starting to soften up a bit. At this point, add the garlic, then cook the mixture for another minute. Don't overcook the garlic, though, as it can start to taste bitter if it gets too brown.

Pour the stock into the onion mixture and stir in the potatoes. Bring the soup to a boil, then turn down the heat until it's just simmering. Let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until you can easily pierce the potato chunks with a fork.

When the potatoes are cooked, turn off the heat and stir the cream into the soup. Add some salt and pepper, too, as much of these as you like. Now pour the soup — or some of it — into a blender and puree it until it's nice and smooth. Unless you have a very big blender, you may need to work in batches.

Once the soup is smooth, it's ready to eat, although you can dress it up with some chopped parsley and extra pepper if you wish. You could also use chopped chives or croutons as soup toppers, and Brookes tells us "The addition of cheese or bacon would be a great idea." If you can't eat all of the soup in one sitting, you can always refrigerate the leftovers for up to three days and reheat them in the microwave or a pot on the stove.