Baked Potato Soup & Baked Potato Soup 2.0

Baked Potato & Greens Soup w/ Potato-wedge Croutons Ingredients:

Serves: 6  Prep: 30 (not counting baking the potatoes)

• 6-8 baking potatoes, baked and cooled
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion. Sliced into short strips
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ tsp fennel seeds, crushed
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• ½ tsp rubbed dried sage
• Plenty of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ cup dry white wine (or just more broth if you prefer)
• 4 cups vegetable broth, purchased or homemade
• 4 cups torn kale, rough stems removed

Potato Wedges:

• 2 heaping tablespoons coarse cornmeal
• ¼ tsp dried thyme
• ½ tsp paprika
• Generous pinch of salt
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• Olive oil in a spray bottle (or enough for light frying)

Baked Potato Soup Recipe:

1. Once your potatoes are baked and cool enough to handle, preheat a soup pot and saute the onion in the oil over medium heat until good and brown, about 12 minutes.
2. While onion cooks, prep potatoes: Slice the baked potato in half lengthwise. Reserve three of the halves to make the potato wedges. Slice the rest into ¾ inch chunks.
3. Once the onion is browned, add the garlic, fennel, thyme, sage, pepper and salt. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the wine to deglaze the pan. Add the chunks of potatoes and the broth, cover, and lower heat a bit to bring to a low boil. Mix in the kale. Cover and cook for 15 to 20 more minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the potato wedges: 

1. Slice the reserved potato halves in half lengthwise so you can have six pieces.
2. Preheat a heavy bottom skillet over medium high heat.
3. Combine all the ingredients for the wedges, except for the oil, on a plate. Wet the potato wedges with a little bit of water and dredge the two cut sides in the cornmeal mixture.
4. Lightly coat the skillet with oil. Cook the potatoes on each side for about 4 minutes, or until gold and crispy. Spray with oil as you alternate cooking sides.

Baked Potato Soup 2.0

Pour leftover soup into a deep skillet or pan and re-heat until soft boil, then turn down to simmer.

Cover with a lid so you don’t lose any of the precious broth. If you need you can add a little more broth or water. While it’s simmering, make the dumplings.

Dumpling Ingredients: 

Makes: 8 dumplings   Preheat oven: 425 Degrees

• ¾ cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
• 1 tsp apple-cider vinegar
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ cup coconut oil, softened

Dumpling Recipe:

1. Add to the unsweetened non-dairy milk, 1 tsp apple-cider vinegar and set aside to curdle.
2. Add the coconut oil to the flour in clumps and work it into the dough with a fork or with your fingers until large crumbs form. You don’t want to cream it in, there should be clumps.
3. Drizzle in the milk and mix with a fork until everything is moistened (some dry parts are okay).
4. Wash and dry your hands, then lightly flour them and get them dirty again.
5. Gently knead the dough about ten times right in the bowl, just so that it is holding together and not very sticky, as in sticking to your fingers, then gently work in a little more flour. Set aside and check on your soup.
6. The soup should be simmering and slightly thickened.
7. Add the dumplings by pulling off chunks of dough that are slightly larger than golf balls. Gently roll them into balls and flatten a bit; they don’t have to be perfectly round.
8. Add them to the top of the soup, about an inch or so apart.
9. Transfer the skillet or pan to the preheated oven. Bake for about 15 minutes. The dumplings should be just slightly browned and firm to the touch.
10. Remove from the oven and use a large serving spoon to place some of the soup and a dumpling in each shallow, individual bowl.
11. Sprinkle with a little chopped fresh thyme.

This is especially yummy when you break up your dumpling and mix it with your stew  🙂