Mixing Bowl

Cozy potato cheddar soup

TIMELY MEAL Cold nights are warmed by this creamy potato and cheddar cheese soup.

Tarmo Hannula

By SARAH RINGLER

This warming and calming potato soup is a good antidote to the cold weather and occasional stress that comes at this time of the year. After having a bowlful, you feel like you’re enveloped in a warm down comforter. It’s pretty easy to make. It also freezes and reheats well giving you another meal down the line. Back before Covid, I served this soup at our New Year’s Eve drop-ins.

The soup can be made with chicken or vegetable stock. I think that vegetable stock is as good as chicken stock but there are two special ingredients that help give it a great flavor: sweet potatoes and dried Porcini mushrooms. You can store onion, potato and carrot peelings in your freezer to use when you need to make stock. The stock also freezes well.

Safeway sells their own very good Lucerne brand extra sharp cheddar at about $6 a pound which is pretty cheap. It is good for snacks, but also for Mac and Cheese, quesadillas, grilled cheese sandwiches and more. It melts easily and has a nice little bite that is absent in most American cheeses at that price.

This soup is delicate and prone to curdling, which causes it to lose its creaminess and look grainy. Curdling occurs when a mixture breaks down and turns into a liquid with little solid bits floating around. It is desirable when one is making cheese and you want to take the little solid bits and form them into a block. This soup can curdle if it is overheated or if you add cold half and half to it.

POTATO CHEDDAR SOUP

4 large red potatoes, peeled and quartered 3 cups vegetable or chicken stock Bay leaf 1 tablespoon butter 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil 3 medium sized or 1 1/2 large yellow onions, chopped 1 cup half and half 3/4 pound grated extra sharp cheddar cheese 1 tablespoon sherry - optional 1 1/2 teaspoons salt Ground black pepper to taste 1/4 cup parsley, chopped and served as a topping

Vegetable stock:

Onion skins

Potato skins

Carrots, cut in chunks

Celery tops

Sweet potato skins or whole potato cut in chunks

Dried porcini mushrooms, optional 6 cups cold water

Make stock by bringing to boil about 2 cups of the vegetable scraps above in a pot with 6 cups of cold water. Lower heat and bring down to a simmer and simmer for an hour or so. Strain stock into a saucepan and measure out 3 cups.

Peel the potatoes, quarter them, and add to a saucepan with 3 cups of strained stock. Add salt, bay leaf and bring to a boil. Once pot boils, turn down and simmer until potatoes are soft.

While potatoes are cooking, heat olive oil and butter in a frying pan over medium heat. When heated, add chopped onions and sauté until soft and transparent.

Carefully warm the half and half in a saucepan. If you overheat it, it will curdle, and if you add it cold to the soup, the soup will curdle. Set aside.

When potatoes are done, add cooked onions. Take off the heat and remove the bay leaf.

In a blender, combine about half of the warm potato-onion-stock mixture, half of the grated cheese and half of the warm half and half. Purée until smooth and put into a clean, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Then, purée the other half and add to saucepan.

Before you are ready to serve, carefully heat the mixture. Overheating will cause curdling. Stir in sherry and add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve. Serves 4-6.