Welcome back to QCK!
What’s everyone craving this week? I’m craving sweets like crazy (which is actually pretty normal for me). I think a no bake cookie post is in order. I’ve also been hungry for comfort food. Hence todays post. I made this soup yesterday and it was absolutely perfect with the cold, windy, rainy weather we had. I have leftovers today for a quick, easy lunch and the rest I plan to freeze for the next rainy day.
I feel like I say this a lot, but this really is so simple. It fits into our 30 minute meal category… so it has to be. I’ll admit, the downfall to making creamy soups is that they’re usually not one pot recipes. This one isn’t anyways. You’ll need two. One to boil the potatoes and one to make the creamy, cheesy soup. But what’s one extra pan? Nothing really. ;
A Note On Slow Cookers
As much as I want this to be a slow cooker recipe, it just isn’t. I pretty much never make any creamy soup in a slow cooker because the milk almost always curdles. The only way to succesfully make this in a slow cooker is to add the roux, milk and cheese at the very end. If you ask me it’s more of a hassle and more dishes. I would just stick to the stove top method.
A Note On Ingredients
The potatoes can be any kind you prefer. I use russet, no reason really I just felt like it was the best potato for the job. If you have the little red potatoes those would be great, personally I would wash them and leave the skins on. Same with Yukon golds.
If you don’t have cream, use milk. If you don’t have milk, use cream.
Cheese. Just use what you’ve got. It’s the perfect recipe for any rinds and pieces you have left over. I used mainly cheddar jack but I also had some pepper jack laying around and a cheese that was a little too hard and winey on its own that worked perfectly. I also added a scoop of cream cheese, because I can.
What’s a Roux?
A roux is a combination of melted butter (or any fat really) and flour. It’s used to thicken soups and sauces. It can seem intimidating if you’ve never done it but it’s a really simple step that any home cook should learn to do. To make a roux, you first want to melt the butter in a pan until it begins to bubble, but not brown. Then, while whisking, add an equal amount of flour and continue whisking until you get a smooth, wet sand texture. Once you reach this step, add a little salt and then gradually add the liquid you are trying to thicken. In this case, milk.
You can enhance your roux by adding garlic and onion to the butter or using other fats such as bacon or duck fat. If you are using bacon and can’t measure the amount of fat in the pan, just add flour gradually until you reach a wet sand texture.
Tips and Tricks
- The key to a really nice soup is to add a little salt at every step and taste it often during the cooking process. When you add salt during the cooking process it gives the other ingredients time to absorb the salt. When it all gets added at the end, you end up with what’s essentially “raw salt”. So instead of having a really tasty, well seasoned soup, you end up with an alright, kind of salty soup. This is actually a really important tip for all cooking.
- When you’re making a roux, you really want to give the flour enough time to cook out, so don’t be in a huge rush. Use medium or medium low heat.
- Anytime you’re cooking with dairy, specifically milk or cream, you want to stir pretty consistnetly throughout the cooking to make sure it doesn’t scald or burn on the bottom.
Recipe
| Prep: 5 Min | Cook: 25 Min | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 4 |
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1 Clove of Garlic, minced
- 1/2 Medium Yellow Onion, diced
- 3 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
- 4 C Whole Milk (2% is fine as well)
- 2 Medium Russet Potatoes, peeled and diced
- Chicken, Vegetable Stock, or Salted Water for boiling
- 1 C Cheddar Cheese, shredded
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Bacon, Sour Cream, Sliced Green Onion, Cheddar Cheese, for serving
Directions
- In a medium pot on high heat, bring potatoes and stock to a boil. Cook until soft all the way through. About 15 minutes.
- In a medium pot on medium heat, melt butter and add garlic and onion. Add a dash of salt. Cook until fragrant and onion is translucent.
- Add a little four at a time, whisking constantly, to form a roux. Add a dash of salt.
- Once the roux is formed, it should look like wet sand, gradually pour in milk, whisking constantly. Add a dash of salt.
- Continue whisking until you dont see any lumps of flour and the mixture is creamy and heated all the way through, about 5 minutes. Add a dash of salt.
- Stir in cheese until fully melted. Taste for salt, add more if needed.
- Simmer and stir until the mixture is really thick.
- Using a ladle, being to add potatoes and chicken stock.
- Add all the potatoes. Add chicken stock until you reach your desired consistency and thickness. I add about 1/2-3/4 C.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve warm with desired toppings.
- Refridgerate up to 3 days. Freeze up to one month.
As always, I hope you enjoyed this recipe! If you tried it out let me know in the comments. For more recipes check out my homepage and follow along on Instagram. Don’t forget to like, follow, comment and share. Thanks for reading!
Quarter Cup Kitchen 