Harmony Kitchen

Jan 24, 2025 Recipe of the Week

This soup is great for a cold winter’s day. It comes together quickly and uses local organic ingredients that last well into the winter.

If you are new to soup making, this is a great recipe to start with. You can use this same potato soup base to make so many different types of soup throughout the seasons by simply changing the consistency and the spices you use (think wild ramps, leeks, corn chowder, watercress soup).

Pantry items: Peppercorns Bay leaves, 1-2. One medium to large onion. Salt and pepper. Nutmeg and mace OR fresh or dried thyme Extra-virgin olive oil White wine, one cup (if you are making parm broth)

Method

You’ll need 4 cups of Parmesan broth for this recipe. If you made some both last week and saved it in the freezer, pull it out the night beforehand to defrost in the fridge.

If you don’t have any on hand, you can make a fresh batch (it’s always helpful to make extra so you have easy prep for your next soup) or simply use other meat or veggie stock that you have on hand in your freezer or cupboard.

Roasting the garlic takes about 45 minutes so that can be roasting while everything else is being prepped.

Preheat your oven to 375.  

Prepare the garlic by cutting the root end off just until it sits level on the cutting board, then peel off any excess paper and cut the top so that each little clove is exposed.

Place each head of garlic on a piece of tinfoil about the size of a standard piece of paper. Drizzle the top of each clove with some extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper then close up tightly in the tinfoil packet.

Place the packets on a cooling rack on top of a sheet pan so that air can circulate around the entire garlic head. Place it in the oven for about 45 minutes. When it starts to smell delicious, pull it out and check on it. When the garlic is lightly golden and soft, it’s ready. At that point, take it out of the oven and open up the foil packet to allow it to cool.

While the garlic is cooking, you can prep the rest of your ingredients.

• Your onion should be finely chopped.
• Your potatoes should be washed, peeled and cut into about 1 inch cubes.

*** save the peels!  Save them in a pot of cold water as you peel. They will make the most delicious snack you’ve ever tried: potato skin chips…more on that later.***

Once everything is prepped, sauté your onions on medium heat in some extra-virgin olive oil in your soup pot. Season with salt and pepper and cook until they are soft and very lightly golden. Then add the potatoes and roasted garlic (again seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper) and cook until everything is coated with olive oil and has softened very slightly.

At this point, add your Parmesan broth and bring it up to a gentle boil, then decrease the temperature and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are very soft. Blend everything with an immersion blender. Adjust your seasoning with salt and pepper and add a good pinch of nutmeg (and some mace if you have some).

Bowls can be topped with a drizzle of olive oil or some pesto thinned with olive oil or some bacon and fresh herbs or some potato skin chips (if you have any left).

Time Savers, Storage Tips and Spin off Recipes

• Once you roasted garlic is out of the oven, crank the temperature up to 400°. Thoroughly dry the potato skins that you’ve been saving and toss them with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake them for about 20 minutes, Turning them partway through so that both sides get nice and crispy.
• Keep an eye on them as the timing may vary depending on all sorts of different factors.
• They are done when they are crispy and smell delicious.
• They are best eaten warm.
• Don’t have the time or energy to make the chips today? You can store the potato peels in the fridge covered in water for up to three days and make them another day instead.
• This soup stores well in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for up to three months.
• Roasted garlic also stores well in the freezer; you can pop it in the freezer once it’s peeled for about an hour until it is solid and then freeze it in a storage container so that you can take out individual portions later on.

Did you Know?

You may have wondered why the “dirty dozen” are largely veggies and fruits that we eat with their skins.  Vegetable skins are a place where pesticides accumulate. For this reason, if you’re using conventionally farmed ingredients, it’s probably a good idea to dispose of them.

This is one of the many reasons that it’s especially healthy to eat organic produce. The outer part of the plant is also where plants store phytochemicals, chemical compounds that protect the plants from pests and diseases.

Finding ways to eat the skins, roots and outer leaves of plants provide you with the highest amount of these chemicals, which have been shown to have many disease fighting properties

This Recipe’s Plant Count: 9 plus any additional aromatic herbs you added to your broth

Time Required: 1 hour, 20-30 minutes active

Number of Servings: Four large or eight small servings