Potato Soup with Roasted Garlic

Last week for our family Thanksgiving dinner at my Mom’s house, everyone brought something to help out with the big meal. I was on appetizers. We wanted to serve something hot, but we knew the oven would be tied up with the turkey. I suggested a little soup, and paired it with cheese and crackers.

It was a real hit, and it did work out very well logistically. I made the soup and crackers the day before, and at the party all I had to do was reheat the soup on the stove and serve. The portion size was great too. It was just enough to warm you up, and still leave room for turkey. 😉

 

Potato Soup with Roasted Soup

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Ingredients

• 1 garlic bulb
• 4 tsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 chicken broth tetra packs -900mL
• 2 cups of buttermilk
• salt and peper to taste

Instructions

1. Roast your garlic by cutting off the top to expose the tops of the bulbs, and pouring a little olive oil over top. Wrap up in tinfoil and bake at 350 for 30-45 min. until bulbs are soft. Set aside to cool. Once cool, squeeze the roasted bulbs out of their papery skins. Set aside.
2. In a large pot, sauté the chopped onion in olive oil until softened.
3. Add the cubed potatoes, bay leaf, broth, the roasted garlic to the onions and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer 15-20 min. until the potatoes are soft.
5. Remove the bay leaf and puree with an immersion blender.
6. Add buttermilk, and season with salt and pepper to taste, heat to serving temp.

I served the soup in plastic shot glasses, just ladled in right before serving. Each little soup is topped with a cheese stick, from our local West Indian bakery -they were spicy! If you couldn’t find these, a cracker, or bread stick, or even a sliver of hot garlic bread would also work great.

For the cheese board, I made a batch of the salt and pepper home made flat bread crackers -click here for the recipe. Every time I make them they’re better. The trick is to really get them rolled out as thin as possible -for a nice crispy cracker. I used some Triscuits too. I added a few of our favourite cheeses -Swiss, spicy jalapeno havarti, brie, and some marble cheddar for the kids.

I also included some fruit with grapes, and a nice honey crisp apple. There was also some dried apricots, and figs, and some cashews -a family favourite. I also added a jar of red pepper honey, so great with the cheese.

Over all, it was fairly simple to put together, make the soup and home made crackers the night before and then just heat up and serve for your party.

With a beautiful and delicious appetizer like this one, life really is a party!

This post is linked up at the Inspiration Gallery, and Tatertots and Jello’s Link Party Palooza.