Creamy Potato Soup

i love soup. it's by far my favorite non-bread type of food to cook, because it is so improvisational. you can make soup from just about anything, and it's a great way to use random things that are just lying around your kitchen. this soup of course, is not full of random things, but rather pretty ordinary ingredients. in fact, you could probably make this soup right now if you substituted regular milk (or almond milk, or rice milk, or goat milk, you could even use cream or half & half... you get the idea, just keep it unflavored!) for soymilk. that just happens to be what we had on hand.

anyway, here's the recipe (this is, of course, probably just for my own reference because, come on, who reads this anymore?):

4 tbsp butter

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

14 baby carrots, chopped

4 tbsp flour

1 tbsp mustard powder

1 tsp paprika

6 potatoes, unpeeled, cubed, divided

8 cups chicken broth

2 cups regular soymilk

1 tbsp dill

kosher salt

don't worry, it's easy. first, melt the butter over medium heat. once melted, throw in the onions, garlic, and carrots. saute until the onion is transparent. add the flour, mustard powder and paprika and whisk until every granule of flour is covered by butter. you just made a roux and are now a fancy chef. turn the heat down to low and let it cook for a couple of minutes until it becomes sandy-blonde. throw in four of the potatoes and cook until they are soft enough to break apart when pierced. add about a cup or two of the broth and stir to get all the good stuff off the bottom of the pan. transfer everything to a blender of food processor and let it have it until the texture is uniform. pour back into the pot and add the remaining broth stirring well to combine and even the texture. throw in the remaining potatoes and the milk-like substance turn up the heat to bring it just to a boil and back it off to a simmer (low heat, bubbles just coming to the surface) add the dill and salt to taste (i used a few good pinches, about a palmful) and let it simmer for about 20 minutes with the lid on.

then you just share it with your friends and eat it. garnish it with a little cheddar cheese and chives and you'll all feel like you're at a fancy restaurant.

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