This soup is a staple at our house in the winter. I made it the other day with Funari's Italian Sausage and was VERY impressed by how lean and meaty this sausage is. And flavorful -- and LOCAL.
Find these spicy treats at the Holiday Market or at Leatherby's in downtown Redding or online at their web site: Furnari Sausage
Toss these ingredients into your crock pot in the morning, enjoy a warm bowl of wonderful in the evening.
Here's the recipe:
Potato Sausage Soup
Brown 1 lb of Italian sausagein a large skillet (buy bulk sausage, or take it out of the casings)
add 2 cups of chopped onions
and 2 cups chopped celery
and saute til the veggies are soft.
Put the sausage and onions and celery into your crock pot. Add:
2 1/2 lbs of russet potatoes, peeled and chunked
Pour in enough chicken broth (or broth and water) to cover the whole mess. Turn it on low and let it cook for 5-6 hours. Mash the soup (with a potato masher) a bit, add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
If you want to make it fancy, you can add some heavy cream at the end. Or cheddar cheese. Or top with chopped chives. Or stir some sherry in at the end...You get the picture? It's yours to play with and make your own. Enjoy.
Showing posts with label crock pot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crock pot. Show all posts
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Not-So-Instant Mashed Potatoes
When I was growing up, "INSTANT" FOOD was all the rage: Instant mashed potatoes, Tang Instant Breakfast Drink.....It was the era of Space Food Sticks, for crying out loud. I don't know why everyone was in such a hurry - it's not like we had to micro-manage our Internet lives back then. For some reason, saving time was crucial. The quality of the food was not.
It wasn't until Craig and I moved in together that we discovered the Joy of Real Food. On Saturday mornings, we watched PBS cooking shows. Saturday afternoon, we'd shop for ingredients and then we'd spend the evening cooking.
Unfortunately, we're spending long hours working these days, which doesn't leave us much time for concocting goodies in the kitchen. I could never ::shudder::: return to Instant Food, but I have rediscovered my beloved crock pot.
Do you know you can make absolutely splendid mashed potatoes in the crock pot? It's true!
I took a couple of pounds of small Yukon Gold Potatoes, cut them in half and placed them in the crock pot. Topped them with several chunks of butter. Covered them and set the heat to "low."
I came home from work 5 hours later, poured in some heavy cream and salt and they mashed up beautifully, effortlessly. No steamy kitchen, no poking potatoes for done-ness, no wrestling with the colander, no pot to wash. Perfect, luscious mashed potatoes that required about 5 minutes of work.
Instant enough for me.
It wasn't until Craig and I moved in together that we discovered the Joy of Real Food. On Saturday mornings, we watched PBS cooking shows. Saturday afternoon, we'd shop for ingredients and then we'd spend the evening cooking.
Unfortunately, we're spending long hours working these days, which doesn't leave us much time for concocting goodies in the kitchen. I could never ::shudder::: return to Instant Food, but I have rediscovered my beloved crock pot.
Do you know you can make absolutely splendid mashed potatoes in the crock pot? It's true!
I took a couple of pounds of small Yukon Gold Potatoes, cut them in half and placed them in the crock pot. Topped them with several chunks of butter. Covered them and set the heat to "low."
I came home from work 5 hours later, poured in some heavy cream and salt and they mashed up beautifully, effortlessly. No steamy kitchen, no poking potatoes for done-ness, no wrestling with the colander, no pot to wash. Perfect, luscious mashed potatoes that required about 5 minutes of work.
Instant enough for me.
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