Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Dreamy Cream of Potato Soup

In lieu of the Taco Tuesday I missed yesterday, I offer you the conversation that occurred last night over here at Mamachandra's.

Mamachandra: Dude. It's Tuesday night.

the Cap'n: It is.

Mamachandra: Damn.

the Cap'n: No. It's cool, I got all the trash out, even the recycling! All good.

Mamachandra (laughing): No, thank you, but no, it's Tuesday. Taco Tuesday. Taco Cleanse Taco Tuesday. for the blog.

the Cap'n: What'd you blog about today?

Mamachandra: Bacon. Tofu bacon.

the Cap'n: ooooooh, bacon! in tacos?

Mamachandra: nope. in soup. well, I put it in soup that I plan to blog about tomorrow, Wednesday.

silence... 

the Cap'n:  soooo.................................Taco Thursday?

See why I love this man?

I had something else planned for tomorrow. We'll see if I can't make it fit into a Taco Thursday theme. Until then......

Let's talk soup! Dreamy, creamy cream of potato soup.

Betty, my retro brown reconditioned Vitamix, has conquered smoothies, crushed juices, and beat down cashews to a smooth consistency. Now I'm hoping for her to wow us with some of the soup recipes that Vitamix has up on their site. Veganizing them looks super simple. I am really in love with the idea of a little chopping, a slight bit of cooking, then the flip of a switch and the turn of a dial to create some tasty dinners and lunches for the days ahead. T and I are headed out of town for a family birthday party and anything I cook I want to be able to freeze well so it doesn't sit in the refrigerator all weekend. With soups, I can easily pack up and take some with us, too!
Dreamy Cream of Potato Soup w/ Tofu Bacon
The first Vitamix soup recipe I stumbled on managed to contain ingredients I need to get rid of for my 'clean out the 'fridge' meal plan I have on the menu tonight. Red potatoes, onion, carrot, cauliflower, garlic. All of these I had on hand. No celery? No problem, I like using a tiny bit of celery seed in it's place as I rarely buy celery.

They call it simply Cream of Potato Soup. A little doctoring up and then time in the Vitamix though and this soup is so creamy it really is deserving of the 'Dreamy' title I gave it. It's so smooth with a few tender bites of veggies. The recipe is very basic. I smash-roasted my potatoes, upped the salt, swapped a tiny bit of celery seed for the celery stalk it called for, added a little thyme and garnished with some tofu bacon.

The dreamily smooth texture, studded with soft, tender veggies and spiked with salty bits of the tofu bacon was perfect. The roasted, smashed potatoes amped up the flavor and made it a bit richer. This means that my version is not oil-free like the original recipe, but I love it as is and am looking forward to finishing it up before moving onto my next Vitamix soup. Because I have a feeling from my new bookmarks there will be plenty more!


Dreamy Cream of Potato Soup w/ Tofu Bacon
Dreamy Cream of Potato Soup
adapted from Vitamix website Recipes
serves 4

1 1/2 c. almond milk
water for boiling veggies, reserving 1/3 cup of cooking water for soup
2-3 small red potatoes, cooked (I boiled to tender and salted, smashed, and roasted until golden brown)
1 carrot, peeled and chopped coarsely
2 c. cauliflower, chopped coarsely
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 tsp veg. bouillion
1/2 tsp thyme
1/8 tsp celery seed
sea salt and pepper to taste

Place onion, carrot, cauliflower, garlic, celery seed and some sea salt in medium sauce pan. Add enough water to just cover veggies, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer until just tender. Remove from heat, drain, but reserve 1/3 c. of cooking water. Also set aside a heaping cup of the cooked vegetables. Place almond milk, bullion, potatoes, thyme, reserved cooking liquid, and all but that reserved 1 cup cooked veggies. Blend until smooth. If using a Vitamix, set on variable speed one. Slowly increase variable speed to ten, switch to high, and blend for 3 minutes, tampering contents down sides as needed. Switch off of high and dial speed back down to variable 2. Remove plug from blender top and add reserved veggies, blending for only five seconds. Turn off blender. Taste for salt and adjust to your liking.  Pour soup into individual bowls. Top with favorite vegan bacon (I used tofu bacon) and fresh, cracked black pepper. Serve immediately. Unless it's Tuesday....or Thursday. Then file this delicious recipe away and just make yourself some tacos. :)










2 comments:

Kylie @ FotV said...

I was just looking for a good potato soup recipe the other day! This looks yummy! Thanks for sharing!

Liane said...

Hmm this looks great :)