For Homemade Soup Day: Potato Soup With Your Favorite Cheese - The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures For Homemade Soup Day: Potato Soup With Your Favorite Cheese
 
 
 
 
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For Homemade Soup Day: Potato Soup With Your Favorite Cheese

February 4th is National Homemade Soup Day. If you regularly make soup, you know how rewarding it is—especially when you can cut back on the sodium that overloads purchased soups.

There are so many soups to make: Just check out our soup glossary.

If you’re a fan of blue cheese, check out the recipe that follows.

And if you don’t sing the blues, you can use your cheese of choice. How about Cheddar, Gruyère, Monterey Jack, or any cheese with smoke or heat (e.g. chiles or horseradish)?

We followed the original recipe, because the garnishes of blue cheese, bacon, and scallions—creating loaded potato soup (as opposed to a loaded baked potato)—called out to us.

National Homemade Soup Day is just one of 15 soup holidays that has its own “national day.”

> See all the soup holidays below.

> The different types of potatoes: a photo glossary.

> The different types of cheese: a photo glossary.

> The different types of soup: a photo glossary.

> The history of potatoes.

> The history of cheese.

> The history of soup.
 
 
RECIPE: BLUE CHEESE & POTATO SOUP

You can make the recipe smooth or chunky. Just use the four pounds of your potato of choice.

Which potatoes are best for potato soup? It depends on the texture you want.

  • Creamy Soup: For a silky, smooth texture, choose starchy potatoes like russet and Yukon Gold.
  • Chunky Soup: Use waxy potatoes, such as red jacket potatoes or fingerling potatoes.
     
    We used Yukon Gold potatoes and left the skins on, since the skin of any potato contains a significant portion of its fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

    Yukon Golds have thin, smooth skin while a russet has thick, rough skin. Whatever you’re cooking, there’s no need to peel a Yukon Gold. (Bonus: Not peeling saves time.)

    This recipe makes 2-1/2 quarts. Prep time is 15 minutes and cook time is 30 minutes.

    The recipe, by Josh Rink of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was originally published in Taste Of Home.
     
    Ingredients For 8 Servings

  • 6 medium russet or other potatoes (about 4 pounds), peeled and cubed
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1-1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
  • 6 scallions, thinly sliced
  • Blue cheese or cheese of choice, crumbled
  • Garnishes: crumbled bacon (we used Hormel Crumbled Bacon, photo #4), sliced scallions
     
    Preparation

    1. PLACE the potatoes in a large stockpot or Dutch oven; cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Cook, uncovered, until very tender, 20-25 minutes. Drain well, reserving 1 cup liquid.

    2. RETURN the potatoes to the pot and mash to your desired consistency. Return the pan to heat and add the milk, heavy cream, butter, garlic and seasonings.

    3. HEAT on medium-low until heated through, 5-10 minutes, adding the reserved cooking liquid to thin the soup to your desired consistency.

    4. GARNISH with the cheese, scallions, and bacon.
     
     
    A YEAR OF SOUP HOLIDAYS

  • January: National Menudo Month
  • January: National Soup Month
  • January, 3rd Saturday: National Soup Swap Day*
  • February 4: National Homemade Soup Day
  • February 25: National Clam Chowder Day
  • March 3: National Soup It Forward Day†
  • March 30: Turkey Neck Soup Day
  • August 27: Crab Soup Day (Nicaragua)
  • October 19: National Seafood Bisque Day
  • November, 2nd Week: National Split Pea Soup Week
  • November 12: Chicken Soup for the Soul Day
  • November 18: National Vichyssoise Day
  • December 6: National Gazpacho Day
  • December 14: National Bouillabaisse Day
  • December 29: National Pepper Pot Day
  •  
     
    ________________
     
    *National Soup Swap Day is an occasion where friends and family meet up for a soup party. Typically, everyone brings frozen quarts of homemade soup (enough for each participant) and exchanges it for soup from the others others.

    Knox Gardner of Seattle started the practice of soup swapping with his friends back in the 1990s. Around 2006, the event gained popularity thanks to spread of the idea by bloggers.

    If you’d prefer to turn it into a dining event, where everyone brings a “soup course…well, why not? The host can supply the salad and the bread.

    National Soup It Forward Day is a day to spread kindness and generosity by sharing a bowl of soup with someone in need—whatever that need may be. Bring a bowl to a family member, friend, or neighbor.

    The event was created in 2018 by a Canadian non-profit organization, Soup Sisters. Founded in 2009 by Sharon Hapton, a Calgary-based businesswoman to feed the needy.

     

    A Bowl of Blue Cheese Soup
    [1] The featured recipe: potato soup with “fully loaded” garnishes (photo and recipe © Taste Of Home).

    Yukon Gold Potatoes
    [2] We chose Yukon Gold potatoes for the base (photo © Bonnie Plants).

    A bowl of crumbled blue cheese
    [3] Crumbled blue cheese. You can garnish the soup with any cheese you like (photo © Good Eggs).

    Shredded Cheddar Cheese
    [4] Shredded Cheddar is a popular soup garnish. If you don’t have time to prepare your own, you can buy it pre-shredded (photo © Darryl Brooks | Dreamstime).

    Chopped scallions on a cutting board
    [5] Chopped scallions. We like plenty of them on our soup (photo © Karolina Grabowska | Pexels).

    A Dish Of Crumbled Bacon
    [6] You can make bacon crumbles, but there days, it’s easier to buy them. They’re shelf-stable, no refrigeration required until you open the package (photos #3 and #4 © Hormel).

     
     
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