imple Vegetarian | Recipe of the Month: Rosemary Potato Soup

At some thing within the beyond couple of weeks, I became leafing thru a mag whose call I can not hold in thoughts and noticed a recipe for potato soup with rosemary. I remarked to Brian that this sounded accurate, however I failed to bookmark the recipe, and I'd forgotten all about it until Monday night, while he called me to the dinner desk and I walked in to discover the kitchen redolent with rosemary. Apparently, the concept had caught in his mind, and rather than move hunt up the recipe, he'd actually made up one of his non-public.

Not having any concept what became within the particular recipe, he simply worked with what we had. Our leeks in the garden are equipped for harvest, though smallish, so he used two of those. And we befell to have a few leftover silken tofu in the refrigerator that needed the use of up, so he pureed that and used it to thicken the soup. He also tossed in a few garlic, a carrot, a bay leaf, five potatoes, salt, and a generous part of sparkling rosemary harvested from our herb garden. And for stock, he used our favorite vegetable soup base from Penzeys Spices.

Considering what a easy series of components this become, the result have become amazingly hearty and flavorful. Thick, creamy, savory, aromatic with garlic and rosemary, and full of mouth-filling chunks of potato and carrot. And it's vegan, too.

Now, technically, it become nevertheless September even as he organized this dish. But it became so tasty, I absolutely couldn't face up to the urge to percentage it with you as my Recipe of the Month for October. The best trade I've made to it's far to cut the salt; the version he made Monday used 1 1/2 teaspoons, which we each agreed became a bit too much. But if your soup inventory has lots less salt in it than Penzeys, you could want to use the overall amount.

ROSEMARY POTATO SOUP

Heat in pan:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil

Sauté in the pan for about 5 minutes:

• 2 small leeks, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Transfer to inventory pot in conjunction with:

• 6 c. veggie stock
• About 5 russet potatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, snipped into fragments

Cook 1/2 hour, then add:

• 4 oz. silken tofu, pureed
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in water
• 1 tsp. salt (or to taste)

Heat through and serve. For us, this recipe was not only tasty and satisfying, but also remarkably cheap. Since the leeks and rosemary came out of our own garden, they were more or less free, and the other ingredients, by my calculations, cost about $2.90. The pot of soup provided five servings in total (two for dinner, three for lunch), so that works out to less than 60 cents per serving.

However, if you aren't lucky enough to have a garden, leeks and fresh rosemary could be a bit pricey to buy at the store. I think you could probably substitute a chopped onion for the leeks without really harming the flavor of the soup, though you might have to sauté it a bit longer before it softens. And technically, I guess, you could use dried rosemary instead of fresh, but I honestly think it wouldn't be the same. Much better to cadge some fresh rosemary off a friend who has a garden, or buy yourself a plant and find a sunny window to grow it in.