Thursday Recipes - Irish Potato Chowder

Happy Thursday! Today's recipe is a modified version of my all-time favorite soup. In the world. That my dad always made in a giant, silver soup pot, and served to my family on cold, snowy winter days. Sigh. Yes, I am feeling nostalgic about soup that I will probably be eating in two and a half weeks when I'm home...

Finals season makes me crazy. I stay up all night, eat odd things at odd hours, start cleaning things I normally don't clean ("Gosh, it's really dusty under the bed!"), and start developing a twitchy-eyed, glassy, thousand-yard stare. Luckily, Daryl finds this whole thing endearing, though this year he'll only get to hear about it from a distance. The only thing that helps me through is remembering that none of this is permanent, and that I'm two (count them! TWO!) finals seasons away from graduating. And never having to do this again. Woot.

Anyway, this is a modified, gluten-free version of the recipe from his Ovens of Brittany cookbook. Ovens of Brittany is a really popular restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin. If you like good wintry food, this cookbook is a winner. So good. So, so good. And if you're not anti-gluten, eat it with a giant loaf of warm bread. If you're not so much with the gluten, well... then just eat it. It's so good you may not miss the bread.

This soup has the added benefit of being meat-free, which makes it nice and affordable if you have some of the spices already on hand. Don't skip the hot pepper sauce - it makes a huge difference!

Irish Potato Chowder

To make roux:
5 1/2 Tbs butter
8 Tbs rice or potato flour (you can use 7 Tbs of regular flour if you're not gluten-intolerant)

Melt butter in a small saucepan. Mix in flour and cook over low heat for a 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and set aside.

For soup:
1 1/2 T. butter
1 chopped white onion
1 1/2 c. chopped carrots (I like bigger pieces, like half the size of a baby carrot)
1 1/2 c. chopped celery (same)
1 t. basil
1 t. parsley
1 t. dried chives
4-5 c. vegetable or chicken stock (make sure this is gluten-free - lots of broth brands contain gluten)
5 c. peeled, diced potatoes
3 c. milk (the higher the percentage, the creamier the soup - I use skim and it's still tasty)
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 t. hot pepper sauce
salt and white pepper to taste

Melt butter in a large soup pot; add onions, carrots, celery, basil, parsley and chives; cook about 10 minutes.

Add stock and potatoes and simmer until potatoes are tender (15-20 minutes).

Stir in milk; return to simmer and whisk in roux until liquid is thickened and smooth. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add sour cream, hot pepper sauce, and salt and white pepper.