French Soup
GARLIC POTATO RICE SOUP
1/3 cup rice
2/3 cup water
2 russet potatoes
1 red potatoes
2 garlic cloves
1/3 large yellow onion
1 2/3 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup water
1/3 tablespoon Poultry MagicTM Spice
1/6 teaspoon lemon pepper spice
UTENSIL
potato masher
PREPARATION
Cook rice separately according to instructions on package. While rice is cooking, peel russet and red potatoes. Cut both types of potatoes into eighths. Peel and mince garlic cloves and onions.
Put potato eighths, garlic, onion, chicken broth, water, Poultry Spice, and lemon pepper into large soup pan. Cook at medium-high for about 50 minutes or until all the potato eighths are completely soft. Mash the potatoes constantly until you feel no resistance. (No, there is no masher for human relationships. No. No! I said no.) Stir frequently. Add cooked rice to potato soup.
Supermarket potatoes cost almost the same whether you buy five pounds, two pounds, or just one microwavable tater. So, we all purchase the economical five-pound bag, leaving us with a lot of potatoes. This tasty recipe reduces your spud surplus wonderfully.
TIDBITS
1) The nutritious potato almost single-handedly kept European peasantry alive during the Thirty Years War in the 17th century.
2) Deadly nightshade is related to the potato. Unlike, its cousin, the tater, this plant is a deadly poison.
3) Which is why my recipes never include deadly nightshade.
4) Nor any other poison for that matter.
5) I do, however, use tomatoes frequently. Tomatoes are related to both the potato and deadly nightshade and were considered poisonous by American settlers in the late 17th century.
6) This fear by early colonials of the mighty tomato completely explains the lack of pizza parlors in early America.
7) Salem, Massachusetts became notorious for its Witch Trials of 1692.
8) In 1905, Lombardi’s in New York became the first restaurant licensed to sell pizza.
9) So, the Witch Trials delayed the licensing of American pizza by 213 years.
10) This explains resistance to capital punishment among many chefs.
– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef
My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.