"winter soup" news and stories

The recipe you see above is from a packet of xeroxed recipe cards I picked up at thrift store sometime in the last few years. The cards were bound together with an aging rubber band and cost $.35. They were compiled as a fund raiser for the Friends of the Lancaster County* Library and are all hand written by the women who contributed them. Some are difficult to read and others are dishes of a bygone era. But some, like this veggie soup recipe are simple and appealing. I'm already hungry for baked veggie and it's not nearly dinnertime yet.

*Pennsylvania

It's not just sugar cookies that are suited to be dressed in whites and pinks and reds for Valentine's Day. Try this creamy, rich, sultry potato and porcini soup. It cooks up in no time and is filling enough to work as a lunch to pack for your sweetheart.

potato, porcini and gruyere soup for the one you love

Peel and slice four small russet potatoes and simmer in four cups half-and-half along with four large slices dried porcini mushrooms, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and four cloves of garlic, roughly chopped until potatoes are tender. Add in two teaspoons of Better than Bouillon chicken stock base (or one cup of chicken stock) and stir until combined. Put mixture in blender and pulse until desired consistency.

Top with sprinkles of pink Hawaiian salt, paprika and chipotle pepper, to taste, and grate one ounce of gruyere cheese over the top.