Potage Paysanne

[zdashamber]

I found this in "The Blender Cookbook" from 1961, but I think it's better unblended. Since it all gets simmered, I don't see any reason why it couldn't start from frozen prechopped stuff. I like potato skins when baked or mashed, so why not when boiled?

It's one of the simplest recipes I love, and I think it only involves peeling/chopping, assembling, and then eating once the simmering is done. There is a lot of flavor for so few ingredients.

__Ingredients__

-2 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
-1 medium onion, sliced
-1/2 pound (~1/4 kg) fresh spinach
-3/4 cup (180 ml) water
-2 chicken boullion cubes
-1/8 tsp pepper

__Instructions__

Simmer for 15 minutes

They also suggest adding 1 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp nutmeg, but I think the chicken stock/boullion is salty enough, and I'm not a fan of nutmeg. They suggest blending when it has simmered and then adding 1 cup cream, but when I tried, that seemed to unnecessarily mash the flavors. Their other suggestion is to chill the blended potage and serve it with a sour cream topping. It's supposed to serve 6, but my recollection is that it serves 2. Maybe I usually make it smaller. I've tried it with veggie stock, and that is also tasty, though I like it less well. I upped the number of boullion cubes from 1 to 2 since more is better there, IMO.

Comments

[0jack]

That sounds really good. I might make that for dinner. Is it rather thick, like a stew? The liquid ratios suggest so.

[zdashamber]

Hoom, I think that if you're planning to blend it, the liquid should be kept low, but for me, making it into soup, I usually add more liquid. I think I usually simmer it until the edges of the potato bits are rounding off and there is a haze of potato through the liquid, so it's still thick-ish.

[0jack]

I went ahead and did it with broccoli b/c I was out of spinach, then added ricotta instead of cream. It was very, very good. Perfect for eating when one has a sore throat. I used a 2c cube of bouillon to that amount of liquid and it worked out great.

[zdashamber]

Yay! Makes me happy to hear it. Hope your throat gets well soon. :)