Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Musings on Soup


A long time ago, I went out to lunch in Poulsbo, WA with my mother and sister.  I don’t know why we went to lunch- perhaps it was after church or my mother’s exercise class or after a round of painting at Dancing Brush- it doesn’t matter, just that we went.  I was 12(? Or 13? 14? Or younger? Certainly not older).  It was at one of those little cafes on Front Street, the kind that displays their daily specials on a folded sidewalk sign, two walkways to the left of Mor Mor Bistro.  I don’t remember the name, or never knew it, and it’s one of those restaurant spots that was constantly changing anyways.  None of this matters except for what I ordered; I ordered soup.

Not just any soup- Potato Leek Soup.  At this point, whichever point it was, my love for potatoes was already well established.  Leeks though?  I’m fairly sure I didn’t even know what a leek was, let alone why it would be with potatoes in soup.  I’m sure I knew I liked other kinds of potato soup, most likely the baked potato kind, but I ordered it anyways.  Or, probably had my mother order it for me. 



This soup, this soup was magical.  I have no memory of whether this soup was chunky or smooth, or topped with anything special.  What I do remember is the flavor.  I had never tasted anything like this soup.  It was creamy and potato-y and something else (obviously leek-y but I didn’t know what leeks were, remember?) and elevated potato soup to an art form.  Honestly, this is one of the first times I can ever remember wanting to know more about food.  Why did it taste like that?  Why didn’t other potato soups taste as good?  And what was a leek for goodness sakes?



Food is one of the great ways of triggering memories.  For instance, I can remember exactly how the best pizza I ever had in my life tasted- a thin crust potato pizza topped with gooey cheese and olive oil in the Jewish ghetto of Rome when I was 17 because I had never even seen potatoes (potatoes!) as a pizza topping before and knew I had to try it (and finish every last bite of it).  I can also remember exactly how the Quattro Formaggi pizza I got in Florence tasted a few weeks later because I ordered it before I remembered how much I dislike gorgonzola and didn’t finish the whole thing.  (It tasted like feet.)

But soup, guys, I’m getting off topic from soup.

I’ve always wanted to taste more of this soup.  Obviously that’s not possible, until I (a) invent a time machine, (b) figure out when I ate this soup, and (c) go back in time and eat this soup again.  But none of that matters, because guys, I made this soup.

 Well obviously I didn’t make that exact soup, but I made one that tastes like my memory.  And that is magical.



Potato Leek Soup
Adapted from remedial eating and Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Obviously I spend a lot of time reading food blogs.  They’re cheaper (aka free) than cookbooks and food magazines (not that I don’t read those too) but most importantly, they publish new recipes more often.  That being said, this recipe comes via the beautiful blog, remedial eating, as a post more than two years old.  I probably should have found it sooner, but thank goodness Molly linked to this recipe in a more recent post about a different kind of soup.  Molly’s soup is adapted from Julia’s soup, Julia as in Julia Child’s soup, as featured in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which of course I bought after the movie Julie & Julia came out, so I definitely should have found this sooner.  But I found it now, and that’s what counts.

Molly’s version suggests a range for 60% of the ingredients, a list that numbers only 5.  I went with the upper limit of all three of these, and then threw in an extra potato.  I get mine from Costco so they’re enormous, but I could hardly make something called Potato Leek Soup if it only contained one potato.  I also don’t know what she means by being “slightly thicker” with larger vegetables because my soup remained very thin even with my extra potato madness.  I also didn’t happen to weigh my impulsive potato so I’m guessing here on the potato quantity. 

18 oz. Russet potatoes, but see note above and use anything up to slightly less than double that (an extra potato for luck?)
18 oz. leeks, dark green leaves removed, leaving whites and yellow-green parts only
2 quarts H2O
2 ½ tsp. salt
6 T. heavy cream

Peel and slice potatoes into rounds.  Half your leeks and wash them thoroughly.  I like to rinse mine under running water.  Then thinly slice them.

Place everything but the heavy cream into a large pot, like a Dutch oven, and bring to a boil.  Turn the heat down to maintain a simmer for 40-50 minutes, partially covered, or until the potatoes are very tender.

Using a stick blender, buzz the heck out of your soup for 1-2 minutes, until the soup is completely smooth.  Then stir in the cream, taste for seasoning, and serve.

I ate this soup by itself, bowlful after bowlful, until sadly I’d eaten all the leftovers.  But I’m sure it would be nice next to a nice sandwich or salad or something.  Or just a spoon.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Life, Part 3

Hello there.  I seem to have remembered that I had a blog, once upon a time in a land far, far away.  If I could just take a moment to quote myself in a previous post, Life, Part 2:
Oh right! I have a blog! I seem to always forget about it, basically in the same way that I always used to start writing in journals only to forget about them a week later. While I certainly can't promise my non-existent readers a schedule for posts, I can promise that, like those forgotten journals, I will occasionally find this again, laugh at old posts and maybe write something new from time-to-time. 
Ah, youth.  I did indeed rediscover this and laugh at some old posts.  I wrote that post over a year ago when I was still a naive twenty year old.  Now I'm twenty two and have graduated from college.  What am I doing with my life?  I still have yet to figure that out. Not that I advocate blogs as a space to complain on the Internet, but finding a job is really hard.  In the meantime, I thought I might resurrect this blog as a way for me to at least be doing something.  I plan on writing some lovely posts about food, Disney, and some book reviews.  Clearly I've strayed a long way from my blog's subtitle in 2+ years.  


Now, if anyone out there actually reads this, would you be so kind to post a lovely little comment?  Or I can continue to creep on my blog stats if you like.  Amazingly people were still reading/looking at this blog even though I wasn't!


Cool... well, I'll write again soon!

Friday, March 18, 2011

So many recipes, so little time...

Here I am playing catch-up as usual...

3/16/11: Wednesday
Martha's Macaroni and Cheese, cheesy, cheesy, and even more cheesy. So good.
Half and Half Loaf. This bread wasn't that great. It was pretty basic, but not exceptionally tasty.

3/17/11: Thursday, St. Patrick's Day
Corned Beef- so good! We went to Seattle to shop today so I put this in our Crock-Pot and when we walked through the door the entire house smelled like meaty corned beef goodness.
Colcannon, which is sautéed cabbage and mashed potatoes.
Brown Butter Brown Sugar Shorties which kind of tasted like Pecan Sandies but not as good as them.

3/18/11: Friday
Apple Crumble. This wasn't very sweet. The apples were nice and caramelized, but the topping didn't have enough sugar in it so I would add more next time.

8 day total: 22 dishes

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

But I don't even like milk.

It's true; I don't like milk. I don't drink it. In fact, I can't think of the last time I even tried milk. Maybe I do like it but I'll never know since I never drink it. Oh well. I do love heavy cream, though. It's fantastic. I wanted to title this post "more heavy cream" until I realized this pudding didn't have heavy cream in it. Tragic, I know, but still fantastic. It must be that whole milk.


3/15/11: Tuesday

Oven-Roasted French Fries, the easiest thing in the world. Slice some potatoes, season with whatever is lying around, bake for a while, then broil if you're impatient until GBD (golden brown and delicious).


Chocolate-Peanut Spread aka Peanutella. I was really excited when I saw this recipe back in January because I love Nutella and peanut butter is great too so they must be great when combined, right? Not so right. It tastes great and all, but the spread is denser than Nutella and not as delicious and Nutella-y. Fun to make, not so fun to eat.


Vanilla Bean Pudding. Like rice pudding, but without the rice. I haven't tasted its final form because it's chilling in my fridge but it tasted pretty good warm.


5 day total: 17 dishes down (17! love!)

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Southern Comfort Food

No, I am not from the South, but I was born in Kansas, so I think that gives me the right to cook up a little bit of chili now and again. Yes, this chili has beans in it. I don't care if that means it isn't chili, I guess it's just "chili" then.


3/14/11: Monday, Pi Day

Beef Chili and Sour Cream and Cheddar Biscuits. The biscuits were just ok but the chili was delicious. I added a few more vegetables and threw in a jalapeño for good measure. The recipe said it served 6 even though it made a mess of chili. A really tasty mess of chili.


A double-batch of Rice Pudding, if only because heavy cream is one of my favorite ingredients. I also have a vanilla bean pudding that I want to make but Shannon voted for rice pudding so I made this again first. Warm, creamy, dotted with those adorable vanilla bean specks- this is one decadent dessert. It's also great cold, or at any possible temperature.



4 day total: 14 dishes down

Monday, March 14, 2011

Happy Pi Day!

3.14159, or a tasty dessert. Enjoy!

Clockwise from top: slices of Peach and Crème Fraîche Pie, Crack Pie, and Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie.


(Yes, it's a crappy picture. A good one of all four pies was taken with a real camera but I don't have that yet.)

The Great Spring Break Cook-Off

Who?: Kelsey, a cooking-deprived college student.

What?: Kelsey cooking as much as possible to get it out of her system before she goes back to school.

Where?: the Lubetich house

When?: Spring Break

Why?: The dedicated reading of multiple food blogs has left Kelsey with a folder full of things to make but with no way to make them at school.


9 days, ?? recipes. GO!


3/11/11: Friday, Shannon's Poker Night dinner

Cauliflower and Caramelized Onion Tart

Baked Potato Soup

Piña Colada Cake

It was basically a Smitten Kitchen party where everything was delicious.

Then I corned some beef to get ready for St. Patrick's Day. There's a four pound brisket sitting in my fridge now.


3/12/11: Saturday

Rice Pudding, which really didn't make enough because it was too delicious to not want a ton of it. I will be making this again and doubling it. I'd also been craving rice pudding ever since this blog post came out in January. It was worth the wait.

Pecan Sandies, made first over Winter Break and too good to pass up. I contemplated making them at school, but it would be hard to do without a food processor or a rolling pin.


3/13/11: Sunday, prep for Pi Day day

We started off the day with a few German Pancakes which were so good and so easy. After that it was all about pie.

Apple Pie,

Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie,

Crack Pie,

and Peach and Crème Fraîche Pie because tomorrow is Pi Day and Shannon needed pie.



3 day total: 11 dishes down