COOK: Italian Sausage & Potato Soup

I know it's starting to get warmer, so soup season is almost over, if you only make one more soup this month, make this one!  The first time I made this all of us ate a huge bowl, and when I reheated the leftovers for dinner two nights later there were no complaints, we were all excited to eat it again.

A lot of my recipes call for a type of broth, we always have Better Than Bullion in the fridge so we can make broth anytime we need it.  We also use it in pan sauces, when we are boiling rice to add extra flavor, even in Rice-A-Roni.  

One note, since it is milk based it doesn't freeze well, if you want to make a big batch to freeze I'd leave the half and half out and add it when you reheat it.

Id suggest you serve this with my One Hour French Bread or Four Ingredient Crusty Artisan Bread.

Italian Sausage Potato Soup

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 Pound Italian Sausage 

4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter

1/2 Large Onion (Chopped)

6 Cloves Garlic (Minced)

4 Tablespoons All Purpose Flour

4 Cups Vegetable, Chicken, or Beef Broth 

2 Cups Half & Half (Room temperature)

1-2 teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (Optional)

4 Medium Potatoes (Cut into 1/2 inch cubes)

Salt and Pepper 

Preparation:

In a 3.5 quart dutch oven, or large soup pot, cook sausage over medium heat until browned, remove to a plate with paper towels to drain.  

Put butter in your pot and let melt, then add in onions to sauté, making sure to scrape any brown bits off the the bottom of the pan.  Add in garlic and cook about 30 seconds, then sprinkle flour on top and stir for about two minutes to cook out the raw flour taste.

Slowly pour in broth while whisking until all flour has dissolved and there are no lumps.  Stir in half & half, crushed red pepper, potatoes, and cooked sausage, add salt and pepper to taste.  Turn down to simmer and partially cover pot, let cook for 20-30 minutes until potatoes are soft and soup is thick.

Can top with croutons, crackers, or hot sauce.

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COOK: Creamy Mustard Sauce

This easy pan sauce is so good on chicken, pork, potatoes, a spoon...

My best advice for any pan sauce, or really any meal, is to get all of your ingredients prepped before you start cooking.  When everything you need is chopped, measured, and ready in bowls and measuring cups right next to your cooking space it's easy to follow any directions, and you don't have to worry about anything overcooking or burning.

Notes: You can use any combination of mustards, just make sure they total 4 Tablespoons.
If you don't have heavy cream you can use half and half, but your sauce won't be as thick.
Chicken or Veggie stock can be used in place of the white wine, we keep Better Than Bullion in the fridge as a staple, it's great for sauces like this.

Creamy Mustard Sauce

Ingredients:

1 Shallot (Chopped)

1/3 Cup Dry White Wine 

2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard

2 Tablespoons Stone Ground Mustard

1/2 Cup Heavy Cream

2 teaspoons Dried Tarragon

2 teaspoons Dried Parsley

Salt and Pepper

Preparation:

(I have always made this after first cooking meat in the same cast iron pan, if you are just making the sauce add a bit of olive oil to your pan to start.)

In a 10 inch cast iron pan cook shallots over medium heat until slightly translucent, about 2-3 minutes, then add in wine and mustard, using a whisk combine it all together, if you used the pan to cook meat make sure you scape up the yummy brown bits for extra flavor.  

Turn temperature down to low, add in heavy cream, tarragon, and parsley. continue to mix slowly until sauce starts to thicken, add salt and pepper to taste.  

Any leftover sauce can be refrigerated for several days.

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COOK: Cheddar Potato Pierogies

 I love a good pierogi, and it was always on my list to try to make my own, but I was always afraid they wouldn't turn out.  Last week KC suggested we try to make them, so  I did some research and read a bunch of different recipes, and like I normally do I took a bit from each and gave it a go.  These were so good!  I wish I hadn't waited so long.

While this is a simple recipe, it takes a lot of time, and it makes about 50-60 pierogies, so it's best to do when you don't have other things cooking.  We made about half of the recipe on Thursday night, and then on Friday I put the rest together to freeze. 

I'll add more step-by-step pictures to this post the next time I make them.

Cheddar Potato Pierogies

Ingredients:

Filling

5 Medium Yukon Gold Potatoes (Reserve 1 Cup water after boiling)

2.5 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

6 Slices Cooked Bacon (Chopped) Optional

1/2 Cup Milk or Half & Half Optional

Salt and Pepper (To Taste)

Dough

5 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Salt

2 Large Eggs

1/2 Cup Milk

1 Tablespoon Butter (Softened)

1 Cup Water from Boiled Potatoes

Preparation:

Filling

Put whole, unpeeled, potatoes into a large pot with cold water, boil until fork can be easily inserted.  Save 1 cup of the water, then drain, peel, and roughly chop potatoes.  In a large bowl mash potatoes, cheese, and bacon (if using).  (I use my Kitchen Aid to mash and mix, but a bowl with a potato masher works.) If you want the potatoes to be a bit creamier you can add some milk or half & half, but make sure your potatoes stay stiff.)  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside.

Dough

In a large bowl mix together your flour and salt.  Create a well in the middle of the flour mixture and add in eggs and poke the yolks to break them, add the milk and softened butter and mix together using a large fork, until a shaggy dough starts to form.  Add it about half of your reserved potato water and kneed using your hands, after it's incorporated add additional water until the dough forms a ball, and is still slightly sticky.  Wrap in plastic wrap and set in fridge to rest for 20 minutes.

Assembling

Remove dough from fridge and cut into four pieces, re-wrap other dough to keep moist and set aside.  Roll dough out until it is about 1/8 inch thick.  Cut out about 3 inch circles using a biscuit cutter or a juice glass.  

Put about 1 Tablespoon of filling into the center of each round, wet the edge of half of the circle (I just dip my finger into a little bowl of water and rub it on.) then fold over and pinch the edges together until the are completely stuck together.  (I pinch going one direction and then back.  I also found it's better to pinch with the hand that you aren't using for water, otherwise you get a bit sticky!)  

Repeat with remaining dough and filling.

Bring a pot of water to boiling, and add pierogies in small batches, once they pop to the top take them out and put on a rack.  Technically you can eat them now, but I like to give them a light fry in a cast iron skillet with butter, I love the nice crunch they get.  You can also add some finely sliced onions and minced garlic to the butter for an extra pop of flavor.

To Freeze

Unless you are feeding an army you will probably have more pierogies than you can eat, but they are so easy to freeze.  After you have assembled but before you have boiled your pierogies lay them on a sheet pan or plate, without touching, and put into the freezer, once they have frozen then you can put them into freezer bags or use a vacuum sealer to proportion them out for use later.  Then you simply just need to let them thaw, then boil them!

Please let me know if you have any questions! 

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