Plain and Simple Potato Soup

When it comes to potato soup, I like to keep it simple. The kind of soup I grew up on was not fancy, wasn't 'loaded', didn't contain exotic ingredients and was therefore something you could make on short notice because you always had the ingredients on hand. It is a wonderful comfort food and makes a perfect meal on cool fall days.

If you have ever had Shoney's potato soup, this soup will remind you of it. Shoney's always had the ultimate potato soup, as far as I was concerned. Thick, creamy and flavorful. But if you are one of those folks who doesn't want the more traditional, plain Jane soup, you can start with this recipe and then add the extras to your heart's content! Bacon, cubed ham, rich cheeses, whatever. This soup makes a wonderful meal on its own, or a terrific base that you can change up however you like.

I typically make a large pot of this but yesterday I kept it small. It was one of Brie's cravings and I was only making it for her, but we all ended up having it for dinner. I'd say it would have filled a 2 quart pan, so that is the amount that this recipe will make. You may certainly double, triple or even quadruple it as you see fit.

Started out with these ingredients:

3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 small onion, minced
6 baby carrots, diced
1 stem of celery, chopped
1 can evaporated milk
2 tablespoons margarine
Enough milk to soup to desired level in pan
Salt to taste (I use sea salt)

One of the diced potatoes goes into a small saucepan along with the carrots and celery. I add just enough water to cover it, then bring it to a boil. As soon as it is all fork tender,
I turn off the heat. Do not drain.

At the same time, boil the other two diced potatoes, the margarine
and the minced onion in a larger pan. Again use just enough water to cover. As soon as the potatoes are tender, turn heat to low and using a potato masher, mash until it is relatively smooth. Like this:

Dump the contents of the small pan into the large pan, liquid and all.

Now add the evaporated milk and mix well.

Stir in milk (just the kind you drink, straight out of the jug in your fridge; doesn't matter if it is 1%, 2% or whole...but I don't suggest using skim. It's just not the same.) You want to add enough to bring the level of the soup in the pan up to where you want it.
I think that about 2 to 3 cups would be right, but again....you know how I am about measuring.
Add salt to taste.

Now let that soup simmer over low heat, stirring it often. It will thicken somewhat,

but if you like it really thick and creamy like I do, here's a little trick:

Combine about 1/2 cup of flour with enough water to make it thick but pourable.
Using a whisk to stir constantly, stir this into the soup.
Continue to heat until it is steamy hot through and through.

If it gets a little too thick, you only have to add a little milk to get it back to where you want it.

And now you have this:

*Note: I did NOT thicken this soup yesterday. Brie wanted it as it was. : )

So it does look a little thin, but I can assure you it was quite delicious anyway!

Tips and Tricks

*I always cook the small pan of diced/cubed potatoes, carrots and celery separately because I don't want everything in the soup to be mashed. I used to just cook it all together and then skimp on the amount of mashing that I did, but that just doesn't work well. I decided that dirtying another pan was worth the end result. ;)
*By using the least amount of water possible to just cover the veggies, draining is unnecessary and more of the nutrients and flavor are preserved.
*If you own a heat diffuser, now is a great time to put it to good use! Cream soups are notorious for scorching and sticking to the pan when left unstirred for too long or if cooked over too high heat. A diffuser spreads the heat more evenly and prevents this. I received mine as a gift from a very talented cook (Thank you, Jeanette!) and it's one of the coolest inventions ever! I didn't even know what it was until she asked if I had one. ; )