Cream of Potato and Thyme Soup

Furnace Update and Cream of Potato and Thyme Soup……

Well, the furnace update is as follows:  my indoor thermometer read 13 degrees this morning when I woke up.  That is 55 degrees F for my American friends and freaking chilly.  Instead of being a food blogger in my next life, maybe I will become an HVAC guy.  Cream of Potato and Thyme Soup sounds compelling.

Needless to say, there aren’t a lot of salads being made in this house right now and we aren’t eating much ice cream.  For some unknown reason, my cravings are towards warm foods or spicy foods, or warm and spicy foods.  Today’s recipe is by request from a subscriber and dovetails nicely with my need for hot soup — hot Cream of Potato and Thyme Soup.

Take me to the Recipe

The Cream of Potato and Thyme Soup recipe itself is vegetarian and gluten free.  My pictures show croutons and crispy salami strips as garnish so eliminate those, obviously, if you want to keep it vegetarian and gluten free.  Although the version that I made contained dairy, it can also be made dairy-free.  I will give you substitutions where appropriate to achieve that.

Method for Cream of Potato and Thyme Soup

I begin by filling a large pot with water.  Add a generous dose of salt and bring to a boil.

In the meantime, peel 3-4 large white potatoes and cut them into cubes.  Make sure you cut the cubes all about the same size so they cook at the same rate.  If you don’t, then you will have some pieces of potato that are mush and some that are still hard.

Add your potatoes to your boiling water and turn down the burner to medium heat.  Cook for 10 – 15 minutes or until you can easily pierce the potato with a fork.

While your potatoes are cooking, peel a large yellow onion.  Dice the onion.  Peel some fresh garlic.  I used 3 good sized cloves but, in this house, there is no such thing as too much garlic.  If you like a milder garlic flavour, reduce the amount of garlic and if you really like a strong garlic flavour, add more!  Garlic is one of those things that is really just a personal preference.  I minced the garlic with a knife but you could use a garlic smasher, if you prefer.  If you use the garlic smasher, just aware that the pieces of garlic will be very small and you have to saute it very carefully so that you don’t burn the garlic.

Once your potatoes are cooked, strain them and put them aside in a bowl.  Grab the pot you boiled them in and add butter (or olive oil if avoiding dairy) and melt the butter.  Once the butter is melted, add the diced onion and garlic.  Slowly cook the onions and garlic so it carmelizes without going brown.

Once the onion and garlic is soft, add the mixture back in your cooked potatoes and add a sprig or two of fresh thyme.  If you like to have pieces of potato in your potato soup, reserve a cup of cooked potato to add at the end.  If you like your soup super smooth, then throw all the potatoes into the pot.  Add your heavy cream, milk, and vegetable broth and bring to a simmer.  If you are trying to make this dairy-free, substitute equal amounts of vegetable broth and add a chopped avocado.

Cook the mixture for a few minutes and then carefully transfer it to a blender.  Blend the mixture until it is smooth and return it to the pot.  Take a spoon and taste the soup.  Season by adding salt and pepper and smoked paprika.  If you think the garlic is a bit weak, you can, at this stage, add granulated garlic or garlic powder to fix it.  I wouldn’t add more fresh garlic at this stage as it will be a bit harsh.

If you reserved some potatoes, add them back in at this stage and bring everything up to temperature.  Be patient so you don’t burn the soup instead of reheating it!  If you aren’t concerned about keeping the soup gluten-free and vegetarian, slice up a few pieces of salami and crisp it up in a fry pan.  Once it is crispy, remove it from the heat and let it cool .  Once the soup is nice and hot, ladle it into bowls and serve with fresh thyme, croutons and salami strips if desired.  If you have planned correctly, you will have some Cheesy Pepper Savory Scones to go with it.

When you see the recipe below, the calorie count is as I made the soup without the garnish..  In the recipe notes, I have added the count as if it was made without the dairy or the garnish.

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Cream of Potato and Thyme Soup

Creamy Potato soup with tons of flavour that can be made vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy-free.

Course Lunch

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4

Calories 291 kcal

Ingredients

• 10 c water
• 2 tsp salt
• 3-4 white potatoes large
• 1 tbsp butter or olive oil if dairy free
• 1 yellow onion medium
• 2-4 cloves garlic to taste
• 3 sprigs of thyme
• 1 c heavy cream or equal amount veggie broth for dairy free
• 1/2 c milk
• 2-3 c vegetable broth depending on how thick you want the soup
• 1 tbsp salt to taste
• 1 tsp pepper to taste
• 1 tsp smoked paprika

Instructions

1. Begin by organizing your pot, your cutting board, your knife and your food supplies.

2. Fill the pot with the water and the first amount of salt and put on the stove over high heat.

3. While the water is coming to a boil, peel the potatoes and dice them into equal sized pieces for even cooking.

4. Once the water is boiling, add the chopped potatoes and reduce heat to medium.

5. Peel and chop the onion.

6. Peel and chop the garlic cloves.

7. Once the potatoes have cooked through, strain them and reserve them in a bowl so you can use the pot again.

8. Add butter and or olive oil to the pot so you can saute the onion and garlic in it.  If you are keeping this dairy free, then avoid the butter and use the olive oil.

9. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and garlic and slowly cook it so that it carmelizes but doesn't burn.  

10. Once your vegetables are soft, you add back the potatoes.  If you like chunks of potato in your potato soup, then reserve some of the cooked potato to add back in near the end of the recipe.  If you like your soup smooth, then add back all of the potatoes.  Add in the sprigs of thyme.

11. Add in some salt, pepper, smoked paprika, heavy cream, milk and 2 cups of the vegetable broth to the mixture and simmer for 5- 10 minutes.  If you are keeping this dairy free, then substitute equal amounts of vegetable broth for the cream and milk and add one large diced avocado.  So for dairy free, at this stage, you would add 3 1/2 c of vegetable broth.  After blending below, you can add more to thin it out to the degree preferred.

12. Remove the thyme sprigs and transfer soup mixture carefully to a blender and blend until smooth.  Add more vegetable broth until you get the thickness you like.

13. Once you are happy with the texture of the soup, return it to the pot and add back any potato that you reserved to add at the end.  Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning using salt, pepper and granulated garlic or garlic powder.  You will have to re-season because you have added additional liquid so don't be surprised.

14. Ladle in bowls and garnish with croutons and crispy salami strips if desired.

    Serve with a Cheesy Pepper Savory Scone!

Recipe Notes

If you make this dairy free, the calories drop to 167 per serving.