Making a Creamy Soup Creamy Without the Cream.

So I was talking on the phone with my sister/friend from New York, Ellie, when she told me that her daughter (who I consider a niece), Donna, had made Potato Leek Soup; that was funny to me because I'd had a craving for that very soup recently. Donna had decided to go on the Weight Watchers program; to make that soup you did not need the butter or heavy cream. What the heck I thought, might as well try it out and see how good it can be. First I printed out a copy of the Weight Watchers recipe, then I compared it to my Potato Leek Soup recipe; pretty similar in nature.

Anyway, I cooked up a pot of the soup using the Weight Watchers recipe, but added crushed, dried thyme instead of using the chives as they suggested. Wow, I was pretty amazed at how good it came out; not as creamy, but it was still thick and rich tasting; the thyme added a pleasant savory flavor. Serving it to my hubby, he too was amazed at how good this non-dairy version was; he equated the texture to cream of wheat, but still enjoyed it...two bowls worth in one sitting.  Ellie suggested that I mix in a little low fat or fat free sour cream if I missed the dairy; tried it and didn't care for it at all.

So I'm posting the Weight Watchers recipe with a big thumbs up from Roy and myself; two people who thought they couldn't go without their butter and cream in a favorite soup.  Note: I added a couple of preparation steps, such as how to clean and cut up the leeks.

Dairyless Potato Leek Soup

Weight Watchers Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients:

64 oz canned chicken broth, reduced-sodium
8 medium uncooked potatoes, peeled 
3 medium uncooked leeks, cleaned 
1/8 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
2 Tbsp chives, minced (optional)

Preparation:

To clean the leeks, slice them lengthwise and then cut into one inch pieces. 

Put the pieces into a large colander, rinse with cold water until you can no longer see any dirt; separate the pieces as you rinse them.  Let them stand a few minutes to allow excess water to drain out.

Peel the potatoes and cut them one inch in size; they will cook together more uniformly with the leeks.  Yukon Gold potatoes are yellow in coloring and have a buttery taste; perfect for a soup that usually has butter in it, but is now being cooked without it.

Combine the broth, potatoes, leeks, pepper and herb, if using any, in a large stock pot or Dutch oven; bring to a boil on high heat.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until the vegetables are very soft, about 30 to 40 minutes. Uncover and let cool slightly.






Puree at least 2 cups or up to all of the potatoes and leeks (depending on the texture you want), with 1–2 cups of the broth in a food processor, blender or with an immersion blender; pour the mixture back into the remaining soup, stir, and reheat. Serve hot, or cover and refrigerate to serve cold; hot or cold, garnish with the minced chives, if using.

Yields 1 and 1/2 cups per serving.

This soup can be completely or partially pureed and served hot or cold. It can be refrigerated for up to three days, but not frozen.

Try both recipes and see which one you prefer, or perhaps you'll enjoy both.  I find the Weight Watchers recipe more convenient, since heavy cream is not a staple in my home.  Judge for yourself.

Mary Cokenour

Interesting Bag of Herbs You Have There.

I admit it, I take pleasure in displaying my plastic bags filled with dried herbs; making sure the label side is out of view. I watch the reaction when folks visit, see the bags on the counter and typically do a double take.   Oh, another good one, is knowing someone is coming over, and an unmarked bag "accidentally" falls out of a cabinet.  You know, you know, what they are thinking; but what makes me laugh the hardest is when I explain they're my dried cooking herbs and I get this question, "Do you bake a lot of brownies?"

Anyway, I've already done a post on drying herbs individually, but this time I'm going to discuss making your own herbal mixture.  I do a lot of Italian based cooking, so an herbal mixture geared towards this genre is no stranger in my kitchen.  Containers of Italian Herbal Mix are available in basically any supermarket; ingredients are basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, parsley, dried garlic and dried onion.  In some brands you might also find savory, sage and marjoram.  The questions you should ask are, "When were they dried and packaged?", "How much of each item were dried together?"; and you're not going to get the answers.

Simple solution, make your own; you know exactly what herbs are being used, how much is being dried, when it was made, and that its freshness will last about six months as long as it's kept in a sealed container or bag.  Dried garlic and onion shouldn't even be in an herbal mix and I suspect they're used more as a preservative; they're better fresh anyway.  Of course, you can also dry each herb separately to create whatever mixture you need at the time of cooking; but for me, this is more convenient.

Whenever Bountiful Baskets has their "Italian Pack" offered, I usually jump on that deal because of the large bunches of fresh herbs you receive.   This last offer had rosemary, oregano, parsley, thyme and basil; sage, cilantro and Mexican oregano are usually in the "Mexican Pack", so each is dried on its own if I purchase that offer.  If you don't have Bountiful Baskets available in your area, take advantage of farmers' markets and stores that only concentrate on selling fresh produce, fruits and herbs. 


What I did this past time was simply line my large jelly roll pan with paper towels, pull the leaves off all the stems and mix them all up.  Don't worry if any small stems get into the mix; once dried, they'll be easier to spot and pick out.  Here in Utah, with the almost non-existent humidity, it only took five days for the herbs to dry out completely.  If you're unsure, check on them every three days, mix them around a bit; you'll be able to gauge the dryness and estimate how much longer it will take.

Once dried, pick out any stems and store the leaves inside an airtight container, or resealable plastic bag.  My mixture filled up a one gallon bag to a one inch thickness; simply lay the bag flat on a counter or table and carefully begin rolling from the bottom sealed side upwards towards the open end.  If you do this step too fast, the rush of air out of the bag will take dried herbs with it; why lose any of what you so dearly covet?  Seal the bag and slowly unroll; flat and air free just like one of those "space bag" commercials you see for clothing.

I know when this mixture was made, how long it will stay fresh, who made it and where, and exactly what went into the mixture.  Dried herbs concentrate their scent and flavor, so are wonderful for any recipe requiring a long period of cooking time.  They're easy to store and keep on hand for whenever they're needed; no disappointment that the local market doesn't have what you need. 

Mary Cokenour