Potato Soup

Creamiest of the creamy healthy soups (Potato celery) 

I love this time of the year. The weather is cool , there is the promise of chilly days for maybe two weeks in January. Christmas is approaching which means feasts :) You can walk all you want and not perspire and puff as much as the rest of the year. There are comforting nights to look forward to where a mug of hot cocoa and a good book are your companions under a thin blanket. The markets are filled with colours.

Sighted the movie poster called "hanuman.com" (monkey.com) , well so apt with all the monkey caps that Calcuttans insist on wearing. Its hilarious and so sweet.  Though how they do not sweat and fele hotter than a volcano shall always remain a mystery to me.

Anyways has it ever happened that a fresh ingredient dictates what you prepare. Ah two days ago I came back home with the freshest of celery leaves. For some unexplained reason all I wanted to have was potato celery salad. Then the evenings became cooler and well decided on a cream of potato soup. With potatoes, celery , onion, skimmed milk , a bit of pepper and a bay leaf  , 1 sausage crumbled and of  course replacing the 50gm butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil this was my magical Thursday. You see there was the one left and I wanted to badly have it :D Besides I once saw a soup being prepared with crunchy bacon crumble on top and that has always tempted me. So though mine were not crunchy bacon the beautiful sausages had their own magical power. The creamiest of soups I have had in sometime. This one is so comforting that all you want to do is to have bowls of soup. In case you have bread with this just skip the sausage, though 1 sausage crumbled and  shared between 3 people is not that unhealthy. Cheers to health and taste. Not to forget the chicken stock which lends its magical taste to the soup.

Its simple, its easy

You need:

100gm potatoes
5 stalks of celery minus the leaves
2 tsp finely chopped celery leaves
1 medium but on the smaller side onion
700ml chicken or vegetable stock. Here is a recipe for Chicken stock
300ml of toned milk
1 tablespoonful of olive oil
1 sausage . In case you are not using the sausage increase the amount of olive oil to 2 tablespoon.
Salt and pepper as per taste

So dice the potatoes and celery and onion and sausage. Gently heat the oil and saute the sausage and quickly add the rest of the matter and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes covered and all . take out the sausages and keep aside. Now I always have chicken stock in the freezer so used 700ml of that (in case the stock is too salty with too much flavour  dilute with water and use that, mine was very salty and so I used 450ml of water and 250ml of stock)  , freshly ground pepper and covered and cooked for 12 minutes or till potatoes are easily mashed with a fork. Drain and then make a smooth blend of the vegetables with the stock so that everything is smoother than a smoothie. Add all the stock and 300ml of toned milk. Bring to a very gentle boil. Add salt if necessary. Remember that the chicken stock would already have some salt in it and so adjust accordingly. Potato being starchy and the key ingredient of creaminess will otherwise burn and become lumpy. Crumble sausages and add that and serve garnished with finely chopped celery leaves. If not using the sausage use bread and 2 tsp butter :)

P.S. For those who are living in Calcutta I srongly recommend paying a quick visit to Kalman's Cold storage at Free School Street for their amazing Hungarian sausage. While there you can pick up some deliciosu cold cuts and meat as well.