Silky Potato and Garlic Soup

       Words. Can't. Even. Describe. This. Soup.

I made it tonight on a whim.  But then again, it makes sense to make soup. It's Winter. It's freezing outside. And everything I put into this soup tonight I just adore. Plus, the thought came about because I was going to waste five perfectly good spuds if I didn't make this soup and soon..  We don't want to waste food people. Although, sadly, it does happen from time to time. This was really, just. amazing. That photo above? Yes. That one.  That's what was amazingggg! I'm getting much better with soups and experimenting much more lately. Soups were also something that I used to be pretty intimidated by. Whyyyyy???

The flavors and textures of this soup just makes plain old sense.  Hearty vegetables, bursting flavors of wonderful onion and garlic, and the heavy cream.  Oh my, the heavy cream.  It's what completes this soup. That's what makes it so smooth and silky.  I want to say this almost tastes like a really well executed Clam Chowder.  But this has no clams. And it's better than that.  I think at one point, I may have even said out loud {well, Sammy was the only one present at that moment}, " DAMN, I AM GOOD!"  Yeah. I said it.

But seriously my friends...you have got to make this soup.  It's. Simply. Wonderful.

I wish you could of smelled what was happening in my kitchen. It was pretty amazing.


Silky Potato and Garlic Soup

Ingredients

4 Cups Unsalted Vegetable Stock
1 Cup Water
2 T. EVOO
Juice of 1 Lemon
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Medium Sweet Onion
5 Medium Potatoes; peeled (cut in chunks)
3 Medium Carrots; peeled
4 Cloves of Garlic; chopped fine
2 Scallions; cut on an angle
Pinch of Celery Salt
Salt and Pepper to taste
About 1/3 of a cup of diced Prosciutto {this is saved for a topping on the soup}

Saute the potatoes, carrots, garlic, and onion in the extra virgin olive oil for about 5-10 minutes.  This will get everything mixed well and pretty hot.  Add in the salt and pepper.

Now add in your stock, water, and lemon juice {make sure you catch any seeds}.  I like to just squeeze it over my palm and catch the seeds that way. Let it simmer over medium-high heat until nice and hot and bubbly.  You want the vegetables to be pretty fork tender before adding in anything else.

Cover this baby up and go clean something in the house. Or take a nice hot shower. Or eat chocolate....like I did.  wait, huh?  Just kidding. I took the dog for a brief walk...

Or...mean while....you could prep this incredible topping for the soup.


I LOVE Di Bruno's  Bros.stores.  They have such incredible food. It's all gourmet style, but their prices are so cheap!  This store is totally the "everything from soup to nuts" store. I purchased a bulb of garlic, carrots, scallions, prosciutto,  cream, an onion, and veggie and beef stock....and that all came to only $18.00!!

Pretty cool.  It might be a good thing that I don't live in Philly or have one of these stores near me. That would be dangerous.

Crispy Prosciutto. That saltiness....oh man...perfection that looks like bacon....it doesn't get better than that.

Just saute it up in some evoo for only about 5-6 minutes. You want just a little crispness.

Once the soup mixture is bubbly hot and the veggies are tender, add in your cream and also your scallions. Stir well.  This color is stunning.

This soup is ready for your mouth!  Watch out though...it will be... HOT!

Top with the chopped scallion and crispy "Pro-shute"  (as my Italian family says)...and Dig in! 

**One criticism I made/noticed that I will fix next time around...I should have cut my spuds in more "bite-size" chunks. It's certainly a nice and hearty soup and you can totally cut the potato in half with your spoon, but it's slightly annoying to do so... 

Enjoy and stay warm!