Potato Soup

So yesterday, while packing the kitchen, I decided that I needed to make potato soup. Why? Because there was a bag of potatoes just chillin'. Turns out, this was a good idea, as I had about 8 potatoes squirreled away in a cupboard beggin' to be used.

Looking for a recipe I first searched Tasty Kitchen -- only to be sorely disappointed. To the writers of Tasty Kitchen, I ask you this: what part of making soup starts with canned soup? Specifically Cream of _____ Soup of any variety? Maybe I want to MAKE Potato Soup on my own, instead of relying upon Campbell!

Thoroughly disgusted with TK, I searched my cooking blogs. I wound up combining the recipes for Baked Potato Soup from Smitten Kitchen and Carrot, Potato, Cheese Soup with Corn from Pinch My Salt. Ladies, your soups are lovely, and I appreciate your aid.

To start, I chopped all of the vegetables.



~8 c. Potatoes



Slice the top third off of a head of garlic (minus a few cloves apparently) and remove any extra papery outside.



Mince what remained in that top third of the head of garlic. Also, chop a whole onion but forget to take pictures.



Melt 3 Tbs of butter and toss the onions in, stirring to fully butter. Let them cook down until mostly translucent.



When the onions are nearly translucent, toss in the minced garlic and 3 Tbs. more butter. Stir occasionally, you want to get the garlic nice and buttery.



When the garlic and onions are as cooked as you'd like them, toss in 6-8 oz. of flour.



Stir until completely combined, and cook down for a little bit, stirring constantly. This is your roux + onions and garlic. Cook until as dark as you'd like -- I kept mine a light roux.



You're then going to add your stock. I had 3-4 c. of vegetable broth in the fridge, and also used half of a bottle of Better Than Bouillon Chicken -- with the water to match it.



Toss in your potatoes and your 2/3 head of garlic. Let this cook for at least 30 mins, making sure to stir occasionally, and don't let the liquid boil. I also added my spices -- about 1 Tbs. Worcestershire Sauce, 2 tsp. spicy brown mustard, lots of ground black pepper and some chili powder.



After your garlic is soft, you're going to want to fish the head out, pop out the cloves and...



Mash it with a potato masher! Add this back to the soup.



This is a good time to toss in most of a bag of frozen corn.



When the potatoes are cooked through, fish out 1/3 - 1/2 of the potatoes and mash them with a potato masher. Add them back into the soup.



Let this cook together a little further, and then serve!

Warning: this soup is not safe for Vampires.