Rustic Baked Potato Soup

Better than Panera’s, (and so says my mother-in-law) this rustic baked potato soup starts with actual baked potatoes for more flavor and texture. It’s creamy and more-ish! 

My wonderful mother-in-law doesn’t cook much for herself anymore, especially now after recovering from two successive broken legs (first the left, then when that healed, the right!) and two and a half months in rehab. So we’ve been cooking and bringing her meals to reheat as she needs them. 

Occasionally she asks me to run to the nearby Panera to pick her favorite rustic baked potato soup. It’s not a big serving still costs $7.99 but, hey, she needs the calories and nutrition so I would never object. But then it occurred to me that I could probably make a copy cat version MUCH cheaper. The great news is she likes mine better! Win-win.

Rustic Baked Potato Soup

The Panera Bread soup upon which this is modeled offers two options for topping, extra (or less) Asiago cheese and the addition of bacon for an extra charge. I’ve never added the bacon when ordering for my mother-in-law so I won’t do it here but feel free you want some! We aren't peeling these potatoes so choose a variety with thin skins like white or golden potatoes. If you must use russets, you might want to peel them. It won’t be the same though. 

Ingredients

2 lbs or 900g white or golden potatoes

Olive oil

4 cups or 960ml chicken stock

2 tablespoons butter

1 white onion

2 cloves garlic

4 oz or 113g cream cheese

1 green onion, green part only, sliced

1/2 teaspoon salt, if necessary (some chicken stock is pretty salty and that’s enough salt)

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

To garnish: Asiago cheese, grated  

Method

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and line a pan with silicone mat or foil for easy clean up.

Scrub the potatoes clean and cut them in half lengthwise. Oil the silicone mat or foil with a good drizzle of olive oil then place the potatoes cut side down. Use a basting brush to oil the tops of the potatoes. 

Roast in your preheated oven for 15 minutes. Turn the potatoes cut side up and roast for another 15 minutes. 

While the potatoes are roasting, peel and chop your garlic and onion. 

Remove the potatoes from the oven and leave to cool. 

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onion is translucent. I cover my pot because I find it helps soften the onion more quickly. 

Chop the potatoes into chunks. 

Add the potatoes and chicken stock to the pot. 

Bring to a boil then simmer for about 12 to 15 minutes by which time the potatoes should start to break down, if they haven’t already. 

Use a potato masher to mash some of the potatoes. 

Give the soup a good stir. If you like a thicker soup, mash more! The Panera soup does have some potato chunks so I tried to match that texture. 

Add the cream cheese and the sliced green onion and stir until the cheese has melted. Add the salt, if needed, and black pepper.

Serve garnished with shredded Asiago cheese.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and we are celebrating moms ahead of Mother’s Day in the United States next weekend, sharing recipes in honor of the great women in our lives. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out the links below. 

• Edible Gelatin Balloons for Cake Decorating from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Guava Cheese from Sneha's Recipe
• Haldi Doodh Masala Spiced Cupcakes with Burnt Caramel Buttercream from Culinary Cam
• Honey Mustard Chicken Strips from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pistachio Saffron Muffins from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Rustic Baked Potato Soup from Food Lust People Love
• Shortbread Lemon Squares from Our Good Life

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Baked Salmon Potato Croquettes

Crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside, these tasty baked salmon potato croquettes are served with tangy lemon garlic mayo. Great as a main or appetizer.

Whenever I have leftover mashed potatoes, I like to make some form of croquette. Sometimes I add a protein like chopped ham or fish and sometimes, I just add a little cheese and egg to make potatoes patties. 

Leftover mashed potatoes are so versatile and go with just about anything. I’ve even been known to add them to quiche filling! These salmon potato croquettes are probably my favorite.

Baked Salmon Potato Croquettes

These can be made with any cooked fish, even canned tuna, preferably albacore tuna in water. Just drain it well! 

Ingredients for about 30 croquettes

For the salmon potato croquettes:

1 fresh salmon fillet, 10 oz or 284g

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

2 red chili peppers

6 green onion tops

1 1/2 lbs or 700g leftover mashed potatoes

2 eggs

Zest 1 lemon

1 - 1 1/2 cups or 70-105g panko 

For the lemon garlic mayo:

3/4 cup or 160g mayonnaise

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon cayenne, optional

Method

Use a sharp knife to remove the skin from the salmon fillet. Season the fillet well with fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Add a drizzle of olive oil to your skillet and pan-fry the salmon for about two minutes each side over a high heat. 

Cover the pan, turn the stove off and leave the salmon to finish cooking for another 4-5 minutes. Ideally, your fish should reach 140°F or 60°C internally, on an instant read thermometer. 

Remove from the pan and set aside to cool. 

Meanwhile, mince the red chili peppers and green onion tops.

Use two forks to flake the salmon. 

In a large mixing bowl, mix the leftover mashed potatoes, eggs, flaked salmon, minced chili peppers and green onion tops, along with the zest of 1 lemon.

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and prepare your baking pan by greasing it with a little olive oil and/or lining it with a silicone liner. 

To make the lemon garlic mayo, mix together the mayonnaise, garlic and lemon. Stir well to combine. 

Add the cayenne and stir again. 

Set aside while you make the croquettes. 

Put 1 cup or 70g of the panko in a large mixing bowl. Use a small scoop or a soup spoon to scoop out small golf ball sized portions of the potato croquette mixture into the panko. 

Coat the pieces with panko and use your hands to form round balls. 

Remove the croquettes to your prepared baking pan. 

Continue the process with the rest of the mixture, until all of the croquettes are ready to bake, adding more panko to your bowl, if necessary. 

Since it was only two of us at home that day, I baked just nine to eat for dinner, with a garden salad. I baked the rest the next day to take them up to my mother-in-law’s. Cover any you aren’t baking right away with cling film and refrigerate until ready to bake. Ditto with the lemon garlic mayo.

Bake the croquettes for 15-17 minutes in your preheated oven, or until golden on the outside and hot in the middle. You can turn on broil the last couple of minutes for more color, if desired. 

Serve with the lemon garlic mayo.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today my blogger friends are sharing recipes made with seafood. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe. Check out the links below. 

• Baked Salmon Potato Croquettes from Food Lust People Love
• Fried Prawn Masala from Sneha’s Recipe
• Pissaladière from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Shrimp Dip from A Day in the Life on the Farm 

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Pan-fried Cod with Colcannon Sauce

This pan-fried cod with colcannon sauce is the perfect meal to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The creamy sauce is super rich, perfect with the tender cod.

I came across a version of this recipe on the (formerly BBC) Good Food website while searching for Irish recipes to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. They were serving the colcannon sauce with steamed back bacon cut in thick steaks, something I cannot get here in Houston.

But that sauce immediately struck me as something that would be delightful spooned over cooked cod which is a rather bland white fish and could use a little bump in flavor. It was a great decision! 

Pan-fried Cod with Colcannon Sauce

Ideally, use the darker green outer leaves of the cabbage for color and contrast. Sadly, mine were rather pale. This is going to make more sauce than you need for the four servings of cod. Leftovers can be warmed gently over a low heat. 

Ingredients

For the colcannon sauce:

1/4 cup or 56g butter

3-4 cabbages leaves (mine weighed 4 oz or 115g whole)

2-3 green onions, plus extra for garnish

1 potato (my russet weighed 8.5 oz or 240g after peeling)

1/3 cup or 80ml white wine

1 cup or 240ml heavy cream

Fine sea salt

Ground white pepper

For the cod:

1 lb or 450g cod loin 

Fine sea salt

Ground white pepper

1 tablespoon butter

Optional for garnish:

Crispy bacon bits

Method

Cut the hard spines out of your cabbage leaves then roll them up tightly. With a sharp knife, slice them as thinly as possible. Then cut the spirals a couple of times across to shorten the strands. 

Peel and dice your potato. Slice the green onions.

Season the cod with the sea salt and white pepper and cut it into four reasonably even pieces. Set aside.

Melt half the butter in a pan and add the cabbage, potato and green onions. 

Cook over a medium low heat for 10 mins, covered, stirring often.

Pour in the white wine and cook till the white wine has all but evaporated and the potatoes start breaking down. 

You can speed this process along with a potato masher or fork. 

Add the cream and cook for just a few minutes until it is warmed through and starts to thicken. 

Season to taste with salt and pepper then remove from the heat. 

Stir the rest of the butter into the sauce and keep it warm until ready to serve.

To cook the cod, heat the butter in the pan until it just about starts browning, then put the cod in. 

Cook on one side until browned, then turn gently and cook the other side. Depending on the thickness of your cod, this could take from just a couple of minutes to as many as seven minutes. 

As you can see, one of my pieces from the end of the loin was much thinner than the others. I took it out first then left the rest until just cooked through. If you have an instant read thermometer, you are looking for an internal temperature of 145°F or 63°C.

Plate up the cod with a generous helping of colcannon sauce on top then garnish with green onions and some crispy bacon bits, if desired.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes for your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Cam. Check out the links below. 

• Colcannon, Ham Soup With Dumplings by Sneha's Recipe
• Easy Pretzel Ring with Beer Cheese Dip by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Irish Beef Guinness Stew by Culinary Cam
• Pan-fried Cod with Colcannon Sauce by Food Lust People Love
• St. Patrick’s Day Brownie Bites Amy's Cooking Adventures

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Smothered Potatoes with Sausage

Take some flavorful smoked sausage, a bunch of potatoes, a generous helping of thinly sliced onions and cook them all down till the potatoes are on the verge of crumbling and the onions practically disappear.  Add a few peas for color and you’ve got smothered potatoes with sausage, one of the easiest one pan meals your whole family will love. 

When I was growing up, this dish made an appearance on our family dinner table with great regularity. It was so easy that my sister and I could even make it on our own. When our mother went back to work, the two of us took turns cooking dinner each night.  I’m not talking gourmet meals. We ate a lot of Hamburger Helper. And Tuna Helper. We were pretty good at spaghetti sauce too and even learned how to smother round steak with onions. But smothered potatoes with sausage was my personal favorite. 

We used either red potatoes, which didn’t need peeling or larger potatoes that did. Either way, the best part was smashing the potatoes into flavorful juices at the bottom of the pan and trying to make sure the bites of sausage came out even with the bites of potato in my bowl. So good! 

Of course, once I had a family of my own, I continued making this great dish but I started adding the peas for color. And because we love peas. Did you know that the average British person only eats about 9,000 peas per year? No idea how many the average American eats but we figure it’s far below the British average. We have made it a personal family goal to try and up the numbers, throwing peas in everything from pasta carbonara to beef stew. I suggest you do the same. 

Smothered Potatoes with Sausage

A little less sausage or a couple more potatoes really won't make a difference in this tasty dish. I give my amounts as a guideline only. 

Ingredients

1 lb 8 oz or 675g smoked sausage

Olive oil

2.2 lbs or 1 kg potatoes, whole small ones or peeled, quartered

larger ones

2 medium onions, peeled and finely sliced

Salt

Fresh ground black pepper

2⁄3 cup or 100g frozen garden peas, thawed (We like the little ones called petits pois.)

To serve, optional: crushed red pepper or red pepper flakes

Method

Cut your sausage into pieces. 

Put the sausage and a good drizzle of olive oil in a skillet large enough to eventually hold all of your ingredients. You will need a skillet with a good fitting lid.

Heat over a medium flame and cook for a few minutes until the sausage starts to brown and caramelize.

Add in the potatoes with a cup or 240ml water. Stir to mix any tasty sticky bits from the pot into the water.

Pile the sliced onions on the top and close the lid. 

Turn the flame down to medium low and cook for about 40­-45 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and the onions have practically melted into an oniony gravy. 

Check from time to time and add more water, if necessary. If you are using peeled cut potatoes, they will probably take a shorter time to cook and will need more water, as they soak up what's in there.

When the potatoes are tender, add in the peas. Cover and cook for a few more minutes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper but keep in mind that smoked sausage can be salty so do check before just adding both. Serve, if desired, with crushed red pepper to sprinkle on.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes with potatoes. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha's Recipe. Check out the potato dishes below. 

• Cheesy Crockpot Tater Tots by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Flying Saucer - Toaster Sandwich /Jaffle by Sneha's Recipe
• Gnocchi and Team Gorgonzola Cream by Culinary Cam
• Matar Bateta Nu Shaak by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Potato Smiles |by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Scalloped Potatoes with Caramelized Onions by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Smothered Potatoes and Sausage by Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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