As we still have lots of rain, wind and cold temperatures, I really was in the need for some warming up dish after rushing home from work. This weather is really annoying me and probably everyone else around. Ok, there is a cliché about grumpy Bavarians, but these days, it’s not so much a cliché! Ha! The tram conductor shuts the door, despite clearly seeing this older man trying to catch the ride, the girl at the bakery barely manages to take notice of me, let alone saying Hello… Can someone – pretty please – give us some sunshine?
‘Didn’t want to invest much time, so I thought of my quick all-time favorite soup, made out of potatoes and zucchini.
The funny thing about potato soup and me is, that my Mom used to make potato soup once in a while and then provided large pots for the whole family, the biggest for her dad (the best grandpa there is ;) — So what’s funny about that? I always rejected all her begging to try her favorite soup, please don’t ask me why (ok, I was quite picky with food as a kid…). But having rejected it so adamantly for such a long time, there is no easy way to finally surrender – I had a reputation to loose… Finally I moved out to go to university, with never ever having eaten ANY potato soup whatsoever. It took some more years and apartments with ever increasing kitchen space, kitchen appliances and cookbooks (‘chipping in on Anthony’s newly created meme about cookbooks – great idea btw – let’s see if we can call in all our cookbooks for a family shot!) until I was ready to meet the challenge. Called my Mom, did some small talk and asked the mortifying question “How do you do your favorite potato soup?”. It wasn’t as tough as I had expected it, the world didn’t break loose and my Mom’s mischievousness about my late comprehension I could manage ;) Needless to say, it’s my favorite soup ever since.
But today I was up for something new, so when I spotted sight of the yellow zucchino in the fridge, I began to wonder, how I could emphasize the color yellow both visually and taste wise and it turned out to be an equal competitor to the original version.
Heat the sunflower oil in a pot, add chopped shallots and sauté until they get glassy. Add the cut potatoes and zuchini, as well as the spices (bay leaf, fresh red chili, thyme, curry & cucuma). Sauté for 5 more minutes on medium heat, to allow the spices to develop.
Add the broth and the cream and let it simmer for about 15 minutes (until the potatoes are soft). You can now remove the red chili and the bay leaf. Season to you own liking with fresh-ground black pepper, additional salt and additional ground dried chili, if needed. Then whiz it with a hand-held blender until smooth.
Decorate (and for an additional culinary kick) with fried red onions and pancetta, roasted pine-nuts and/or sour cream.
Finally: I’m not freezing anymore, I’m also not hungry anymore and it stopped raining, too, with a colorful rainbow. ;) Is that what Mom meant when she said potato soup is a panacea?
Potato Soup - spiced up!
Recipe Source: own creation
Prep/cooking time: about 30 min.
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Ingredients (serves 2):
sunflower oil
1 shallot
chopped garlic (amount up to your taste)
2 large potatos (cut up in little cubes)
1 big yellow zucchino (cut up in slices)
1/3 - 1/2 l broth
100 ml cream
1 tsp curry powder
2 tsp curcuma
1 red chili (fresh, uncut)
1 bay leaf
salt, black freshly grounded pepper, additional grounded dried chili, thyme
for decoration (and extra taste!): fried red onions and pancetta, roasted pine-nuts, sour cream,
May 11th,
2005
I should in good conscienec shine the spotlight to
http://hungryhungryhungry.blogspot.com/
I just posted a pic of my cookbooks and he thought to make a it Q&A meme.
Love the pics and the recipes and would like more stories of grumpy Bavarians, small acts of misanthropy give me great pleasure.