Potato Soup with Caramelized Shallots and Rye Bread | Suite101.com

Buttermilk Potato Soup with Rye Bread - Tracey Seaman

This luscious potato soup, flavored with buttermilk and topped with caramelized onions, offers a delicious first course, served with rye bread.

A harvest of new potatoes offers the essential ingredients for this simple soup of potatoes, buttermilk, caramelized shallots and dill. Heat the cold buttermilk simply by pouring it over the steaming hot potatoes. Use a variety of potatoes, such as 'Gold Rush,' 'All Blue' and 'Red La Soda,' and savor the integrity and character of each.

Serve buttermilk potato soup with an open-faced sandwich of rye bread spread with a thin layer of butter, cucumber slices and a drizzling of honey. Michael found the inspiration for this unusual yet delicious combination from a passage in Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina."

RECIPES

BUTTERMILK POTATO SOUP

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds new potatoes, such as 'Gold Rush,' 'Austrian Crescent,' 'All Blue,' and 'Red La Soda'
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, plus more to taste
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 shallots, thinly sliced
• 4 cups buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill, coarsely chopped
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Place potatoes in a medium saucepan, cover with cold water and add salt. (If you're using more than one variety of potato, use separate saucepans for each variety to accommodate various cooking times.) Bring water to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 10 to 20 minutes.
2. While the potatoes are cooking, heat butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat and add shallots. Reduce heat to medium, and saut? until golden brown and lightly caramelized, about 12 to 14 minutes.
3. Drain potatoes and set aside to cool briefly. With a sharp paring knife, remove a small band of peel from the center portion of each potato. Divide cooked potatoes between four soup bowls and pour about 1 cup buttermilk into each bowl. Top with caramelized shallots, season with salt and pepper and garnish with fresh dill. Serve immediately.

OPEN-FACED RYE-BREAD SANDWICH

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 slices rye bread
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced on an angle
• 1 tablespoon honey

Directions:

Divide the butter among 4 slices of bread. Place cucumber slices on each piece of bread and drizzle with honey.

SOURCES

Seed potatoes for cultivation

Fedco Seeds

P.O. Box 520

Waterville, ME

04903

Catalog $2

Johnny's Selected Seeds

2580 Foss Hill Road

Albion, ME 04910

207-437-4301

Catalog available

Ronniger's Seed Potatoes

P.O. Box 307

Ellensburg, WA 98926

509-925-6025

RECOMMENDED READING

Maggie Oster

"The Potato Garden" (Harmony Books, 1993; $17)

Redcliffe N. Salaman

"The History and Social Influence of the Potato" (Cambridge University Press, 1970; $27.50)

Available in your local bookstore or from Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble

Copyright Michael Vyskocil. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.

Source: http://michael-vyskocil.suite101.com/potato-soup-with-caramelized-shallots-and-rye-bread-a387215

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