One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four

For me, St. Patrick's Day gets off to a similar start every year.  My Mom calls early in the morning and, immediately after wishing me a Happy St. Patrick's Day, asks if I'm wearing green.  My response is always the same.  No.  Mind you, I do own a couple articles of green clothing, but more often opt for something cheerful from the black hole section of my closet.  Needless to say, I'm left feeling like the worst 1/4 Irish person in the world.

As some of you may know, I've been working on a collection of pillows that are a modern take on traditional patchwork designs.  After struggling with the specs for a pattern called Tumbling Blocks, I came to the realization I must be more of a Tumbling Dice girl a la The Rolling Stones and took to the kitchen to work on the potato soup for dinner.

I hate to admit this, but up until today, I had never made potato soup.  Mom ran through the family recipe which was pretty straight forward.  Throw everything (butter, onion, celery, and potatoes) into a pot of water and cook until tender and then add milk.  When I commented I was surprised it wasn't made with a roux or at least by cooking the onions and celery in butter prior to adding them to the liquid, she commented that "in the olden days women didn't have time for that sort of thing because they always had a baby on their hip when they were cooking".  Dear God, you would think we came from a family as big as the Duggars based on that comment.  I assure you, we did not.

This soup is super, super easy.  In an attempt to reduce calories and fat...as much as one can with potato soup...my recipe doesn't use heavy cream or half and half.  Instead, I used a roux as a thickener and then added 2% milk.  You could absolutely use whole milk, but I don't know how the roux would respond with half and half or heavy cream.  Trust me, it's really very creamy with only 2% milk.

In the end, I figured out the correct ratio for the Tumbling Blocks pattern, but still think Mick and Keith's Tumbling Dice has it all over the Amish.  Creamy potato soup and crusty bread, topped off with Irish coffees in front of the fire was the perfect dinner for a rainy St. Patrick's Day.....now if we could just find that pot of gold....well, we'd be golden!

Newfangled No Baby on the Hip Potato Soup

5 pounds of Yukon gold potatoes
2 cups water
4 cups vegetable broth
1 large onion, chopped
5 stalks celery, chopped
5 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup Bob's all purpose flour*
3 1/2 cups milk, warmed
salt and pepper

Peel and cube the potatoes and place in a large pot with the water and vegetable broth.  Cook over medium heat until the potatoes are tender.  Season with salt and pepper.

While the potatoes are cooking, melt the butter in another pot and add the onions and celery.  Cook, stirring often, until the onions are translucent, but not browned.  Add the flour and stir until smooth.  Cook for 2-3 minutes over medium low heat.  Add the warm milk a ladle or two at a time, stirring constantly.  This mixture should be lovely and thick.

Add the thickened onion, celery, and milk to the pot of potatoes and liquid.  Stir to incorporate and add salt and pepper to taste.

*You can use regular flour if you prefer.  Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour is gluten free