Potato Soup

There was frost on my car when I went outside this morning. I suspected as much since I could see frost on the neighbor's roof. We're due for another night of freezing temps tonight, too. In all honestly, the cold doesn't bother me too much. It means sweaters and cold noses, crisp-smelling air, beautiful fall colors (hopefully they stay for our drive to State College), and as many soups and stews as I can eat in a week! I wasn't kidding when I said we eat soups and stews frequently in the fall and winter.

Tonight Shana and I had two friends over for dinner. One is a friend from my job and the other is her foster daughter (a first-year student at the University of Evansville who was back on her fall break). When our friends arrived tonight, we got right down to making dinner. This soup doesn't take an incredibly long time, but we were all hungry. For all its simple ingredients, this soup is a winner in my book (it's the one we call "fatty fatty potato soup"). It's a great cold-night, warm-tummy soup, and Shana and I think it tastes a little bit like the breading on Kentucky Fried Chicken due to the dark roux and pepper. Neither one of us is huge pepper fans, but in this soup it's worth it! We also made roasted broccoli, but I think a post on oven-roasted veggies is in order some time soon. Anyway, on to the recipe!

You can see I used white potatoes here.

Potato Soup
(aka "fatty fatty potato soup" or "tastes like KFC")
Ingredients
1 c. chopped onion (I use yellow or white for this)
9 c. veggie broth (Better Than Bullion "No Chicken")
2 lbs. red or white potatoes (just not russets!), cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 1/2 tsp. black pepper
6 T. margarine (Earth Balance sticks)
2/3 c. all purpose flour

Directions
1. Saute onions in a small amount of oil in a large stockpot.
2. Add potatoes, pepper, and broth, simmer until potatoes are soft.
3. Meanwhile, in a saucier or similar pan, make the roux by melting the margarine and adding the flour.
4. Cook the roux over med or med-low heat, depending on your stove, stirring frequently until a rich golden brown.
5. Add roux to soup and stir. Be careful, the soup may splatter with the addition of the roux.


Helpful Hints

• I always worry about the roux and end up adding a bit of oil to it at the very beginning. This is totally unnecessay and actually makes the roux less able to thicken the soup. Don't do what I do. The roux will thin eventually and get brown, even without adding extra oil, as is shown in the picture on the right. 
• The next two pictures show beginning and intermediary steps to my roux when I do NOT add oil; see how it starts dry? It almost looks like scrambled egg whites at first, then kind of like ground chicken, before finally changing to the dark gooeyness? In any event, the longer you let the roux cook, the darker the it becomes and the richer the overall taste of the soup. Be careful to regularly whisk your roux; it can burn. 
• Did you get a saucier yet? They are perfect pans for a roux. 
• Although I've not tried this with kids, my guess is that mini-munchers would enjoy it, although you may want to dial back on the pepper a bit for them. 
• If you need to, you can add unsweetened non-dairy milk (I'd use soy) to reach your desired consistency. I have never had to do that, but include this in case you'd like to do so. 
• If you use the "no chicken" broth, this is a soy-free dinner.

The post "Potato Soup" originally appeared on Maggie's LesVegan Kitchen.