*Pic 1 - Picture from http://www.reneeskitchenadventures.com/2015/11/creamy-potato-white-cheddar-and.html
My Variations from Recipe as Written: I used 12 oz. of white cheddar cheese, rather than the 8 oz. called for in the recipe.
General Thoughts: Holy dicing, Batman! This recipe called for everything to diced... I am surprised it did not tell me to dice the butter! The recipe lists prep time as 10 minutes, but that is a load of beaver spit! I was so sick of dicing things by the time the prep was done, I was almost no longer interested in the soup itself, but I digress...
This soup delivered as a main dish... A little piece of Eastern European flavor that satisfied for something both exotic and comforting. It was very hearty, and turned out to be creamier than I thought it would, based on the single pint of Half-and-Half in the recipe. Using the immersion blender was actually perfect, and I managed to do almost exactly what it said: blend approximately half the diced veggies and potatoes. If you didn't have an immersion blender, you could just puree half the soup in a normal blender and add it back to the pot. The dollop of sour cream was a nice touch, and I paired it with sourdough bread for dipping.
In my opinion, the main thing this soup was missing was a stronger flavor. It was solid and tasty overall, but (for someone like me that enjoys strong flavors) it left me wanting for some "punch." I added some Louisiana hot sauce to the bowls I ate, which certainly helped, but that is not for everyone. More salt, more pepper, more... something, would have helped. On one hand, it is good because each individual person can doctor their own bowl to suit his or her taste, but if you are making it for a crowd that likes strong savory flavors, you might want to kick it up a notch.
I have some alterations I want to try next time I make it... Instead of the butter to sauté vegetables, I would start by cooking up half a pound of chopped bacon and then sautéing the veggies in the result. Then, I think providing a good German or Polish sauerkraut as a garnish that folks could add to their bowls would provide some of the vinegar-y flavor I felt like it was lacking without necessarily upping the spice level. Lisa suggested a couple of other items that would definitely be great as well (see below).
*Pics 2 & 3 - Pictures from when I made it
Polling the Fam: I got to make this one for our best friends, so got some good perspectives... First, for me, I would DEFINITELY make it again, particularly with the changes I mentioned above (although I'd buy some pre-diced veggies!). Lisa gave the soup "two thumbs up," and made some really good additional suggestions that I would use next time: a smoked sausage instead of plain kielbasa; a much stronger (sharper) cheese (such as Kerrygold's Reserve Irish Cheddar); some green onion; and more sour cream. Jayson said he really liked it and would definitely eat it again, but agreed it needed something to kick up the flavor profile a little bit. And, Andrew thought it was really good, well-made, with tasty potatoes, and nothing he didn't like in his soup.
Verdict: Liked it. (4 stars)
No comments:
Post a Comment