Maple Roasted Potato & Rosemary Soup

I hope you are all enjoying a relaxing holiday with your families. Our Christmas was quiet and blessed. We didn't travel, we aren't entertaining. We cooked our big meal on Christmas Eve, so the big day was spent Skyping with family and setting up Legos.

We've also been enjoying a lot of glazed ham leftovers. Josh handled the ham, and the glaze and resulting gravy were nothing short of spectacular! Maple syrup and homemade orange marmalade were involved. He will have to do a post on it one day. Perhaps when he sits down to do that Thanksgiving post.

*cough cough*

I have decided that simple, satisfying, fortifying soups = my theme for the rest of Winter. And this one I made last week, was a doozy: Incredibly simple, but with delicately nuanced flavors to keep it interesting. Everyone had seconds.

There is no dairy in this potato soup. And it could easily go vegetarian/vegan with a flavorful vegetable stock substituted for the chicken stock.

Oh yeah! Take note: Maple Roasted Potatoes are officially the Way To Go. Next time you're roasting red potatoes as a dinner side, try it this way. Add some chopped rosemary after they come out of the oven, if you want. Delicious! Or, if you're serving home fries with a big weekend breakfast or brunch, leave out the rosemary and dish out alongside your scrambled eggs or omelette... You know how you soak up leftover maple syrup with whatever is left on you plate when you're eating breakfast out? These taste like that. Only better.

This color means they're done.

Pre-imersion blender. Plenty of rosemary leaves left in the soup after removing the stems.

Ingredients

Maple Roasted Potatoes

6-8 medium red potatoes (organic, if possible)

1 tsp. kosher salt

3 TB olive oil

1 TB maple syrup

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Scrub potatoes, and cut in half. Cut each half into quarters. Toss with salt and olive oil. Roast on foil-lined, heavy baking sheet for about 40 minutes, stirring gently every 10 minutes. Before the final 10 minutes, remove and drizzle on the maple syrup; stir. Continue cooking for the last 10 min.

Soup

3 TB olive oil

1 large white onion

3 large cloves garlic, pressed or minced

4 c. (chicken or veg.) stock + 1 c. water

3-5 sprigs fresh rosemary

8 peppercorns

Meanwhile, sauté the onion in the olive oil over medium heat, until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and stir for one minute. Add stock, water, rosemary and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Simmer until potatoes are done. At least 20 minutes.

When potatoes are done, carefully remove rosemary sprigs from the soup (using tongs!). You want the stems out, but let any leaves that have fallen off (many will) stay in the soup. Add potatoes to the soup and simmer, covered, for another 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and carefully puree until smooth with immersion blender, or in batches in food processor (let the soup cool some before using a food processor). Salt and pepper to taste. 

I put an ice cube in the kids' soup, and they enjoyed sipping dinner from their favorite mugs!

Pin It