Soup Memories

One of the cool things about growing up was my mother was always at home when we got off the bus from school. I’m not sure I really appreciated it until I had to leave my children in day care. She was a good cook and she enjoyed it I think, although it wasn’t her favorite creative outlet.

After school we’d find her in the kitchen working on the evening meal. We were very traditional for the most part. Meat and potatoes with the sides was always served in bowls, not buffet style off the stove (like in the Flexitarian Kitchen). There are more than a few favorite meals and dishes. My brother and sister and I refer to a couple we consider exclusively “hers” like Mom’s iced tea, or Mom’s cole slaw.

A family favorite was Mom’s potato soup. The soup, simply seasoned, would always leave us satisfied. She’d start by sauteing onions and celery and then adding hamburger, covering the whole lot with water to make the broth. She’d add nearly an entire gallon of milk. I imagine now that she was taught that way by her mother who had to manage feeding 8 people on a very slender budget.

We’d eat it with corn bread slathered with butter (as long as my father could afford butter, he’d declared, margarine was not allowed) and one or another kind of fruit jam she’d made over the summer. I can taste the memories and see her sitting next to me out of the corner of my mind’s eye.

It was a habit after a meal to kiss her cheek as I left the table.

Amazing how often the simple plate is the most evocative.

I don’t make my soup the same way she did, but I remember standing at her stove as she taught me her version.

Soup Memories

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe

Servings: 4 - 6

Author: LydiaF

Ingredients

• 2 T butter
• 1 cup onion diced
• 2 T garlic minced
• 1 cup hamburger browned (about ½ pound raw)
• ½ cup celery diced
• ½ cup carrot diced
• 2 ½ lb potatoes about 8 cups, cut into 1 inch cubes. I don't peel the thin skinned potatoes.
• 48 oz chicken broth 1 ½ quarts
• 1 ½ c half and half
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 bay leaves

Instructions

• Melt the butter in a 6 quart dutch oven. If you have mirepoix available, substitute two cups for the onions, garlic, celery and carrot.
• Saute the onions and garlic
• Add the carrots and celery and lower the heat to low. Add a little salt and pepper and the bay leaves.
• Sweat all the vegetables for a good 10 - 15 minutes or more (longer is better, just be careful they don’t dry out and keep the heat low)
• Brown the hamburger in a medium sized skillet while the vegetables are cooking. Drain off the fat and add to the veggies in the dutch oven.
• Add the potatoes, a little more salt and pepper, and cover the whole kit and caboodle with chicken broth. Add more water if needed. Turn up the heat to medium.
• Let the soup come to a bubble. Give it a stir every once in awhile.
• When the potatoes are cooked through, add the half and half. The time it takes to cook the potatoes depends on how large you cut the pieces, start checking at 10 minutes. Taste to adjust the salt and pepper again. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

Like this recipe?Be sure to Pin It for later!

My mother would be pleased to hear this and I’m sorry that she’s no longer around to tell her but I wish I had paid more attention to my mother (in the kitchen, at least). I hope you make this, and are able to eat it with the people you love.

What are the foods that remind you of your childhood?

NOTE: I’ve updated this post and added a new photo. You’ll find the original in the recipe.