Potato Potahto: Week Two of Soft Foods

 

Entering week two of Bryan's sans wisdom-teeth diet I was running out of ways to make soft food good enough for me to eat as well. Staring into the fridge I saw an abundance of veggies in dire need of being used, so I do what I do best. I started prepping a soup.

I chopped up a shallot and a clove of garlic and sauteed them in my lovely Mario Batali cast iron soup crock (hey, Le Creuset is tres cher!). Once translucent I threw in about 5 large fingerling potatoes peeled and chopped. I have potatoes growing out my ears from the CSA, and while fingerlings are definitely best roasted they'll do the trick here too. I also had some carrots that I chopped and threw into the pot. I cooked everything for 5 or so minutes and poured in 6 cups of chicken stock and threw the lid on.

While this simmered I made 1 cup of rice in a separate pot. I used water and half a boullion for an extra layer of flavor.

Once the potatoes were cooked through I added 1/4 of a head of cabbage I shredded, one chopped hot pepper (no idea what kind, I got it at the CSA) and cooked another 5 minutes.

Into each bowl I portioned some of the cooked rice and ladled the chunky potato soup over each. Grated some fresh parmesan into each (you know how I do), and voila. The soup was brothy and rich in flavor, with nice soft chunks of potato and just the right amount of heat from the peppers. Perfectly filling as an entire dinner, but if Bryan had functioning teeth I'd most certainly accompany this with some hunks of crusty Italian bread. Oh to dream....

*Note: When storing a soup like this in the fridge, be sure to  keep the rice in a separate container than the rest of the soup. This way the rice doesn't absorb all the broth, which will leave you pretty... soupless.