Potato Soup with Rivels

Potato soup is one of my favorite soups and I’ve had and enjoyed many kinds….baked potato, cheesy, cream of potato soup, etc., but my mom’s is still my favorite and up until the last six months or more, I had never made it. As with most of the dishes my mother made, she didn’t have a recipe for this so I needed to try to find something similar and go from there. My mom was a plain and simple cook, she didn’t use spices or any unusual ingredients so I knew that her soup wouldn’t be difficult to make but I just had to figure out the procedure….I already had some idea of what most of the ingredients were. I knew that she used potatoes, of course, onion, canned evaporated milk and seasoned it with salt. She also made something like a noodle or dumpling that she added to her soup that she made using eggs and flour. Other than that, I was clueless.

My search began with my sister Jean, she has made this potato soup before and I also had a recipe from someone I used to work with, that was similar, so I took some of what my sister told me and some of my coworkers recipe and combined them. Between these two recipes I had the ingredients and the procedures for the soup but couldn’t get the hang of making the rivels (Mom didn’t call them rivels and I can’t remember what she did call them, but that's the name that was used in most of the recipes I found) so I pressed on. I eventually found the instructions in and Amish recipe that I located in a regional cookbook that covered the northeastern part of the US, and also from a blog I follow and her recipe was from her German heritage…at last success!

Potato Soup with Rivels
Print Recipe
1 large onion, diced
8  medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
water, enough to cover the potatoes and onions
salt  to taste
2-3 cans evaporated milk, (12 ounces each)
1 stick butter

Rivels (Dumplings/Noodles)
4 egg yolks
1/2-3/4 cup flour

1. Dice onions and place in a large pot.
2. Peel and cut potatoes into bite sized cubes and put in pot with the onions.
3. Put enough water in the pan to just cover the potatoes and onions, add salt. Cook until the potatoes are tender.
4. DO NOT DRAIN WATER
5. Add evaporated milk. and butter. Cook and stir until thoroughly heated.
6. To make Rivels - Add flour to eggs and toss and stir until almost dry. Mixture looks like small dumplings/noodles. Gradually drop mixture into the soup. Cook for about five minutes, until the Rivels are done, stirring frequently.
7. Add more salt if desired.

Tips:
If you like thicker soup, add leftover mashed potatoes or instant mashed potatoes until soup reaches the desired consistency.
When adding instant potatoes, under cook potatoes a little then add the instant potatoes after the milk and butter and before adding the rivels. Cook until the soup thickens.
Can add chunks of ham.
This makes a lot of soup so unless you like leftovers or are feeding several people, you may want to cut this recipe in half.

Put chopped onion in a large saucepan or dutch oven.

Add potatoes

Cover potatoes with water.

Add salt. I know this looks like a lot but it really isn't, I still needed to add more later.

Cook potatoes until tender, do not drain, leave the water in the pan and add 2 to 3 cans of evaporated milk. If adding instant potatoes as a thickener, under cook the potatoes a little because the soup will need to cook a little longer.

Add 1 stick of butter cook until thoroughly heated.

I don't normally use instant potatoes since I prefer making my mashed potatoes from the real thing. A friend told me that she really likes this brand because they taste just like fresh, she even served them for Thanksgiving and couldn't tell the difference. So I decided to use them in the soup and they worked great. Guess I'll continue to keep a box on hand just for this purpose.

My mother never added any type of thickener to her soup, but Michael likes his thicker so I decided to try adding some instant mashed potatoes. I had read that you can use mashed potatoes or instant mashed potatoes to thicken soups. I used about a half cup of instant potatoes and cooked until the soup was nice and creamy looking. If you like an even thicker soup, just add more until you reach the desired consistency.

While the soup is cooking make the rivels. "What are rivels you ask?", they remind me a little of a noodle or chewy dumpling...not chewy in a bad way. My mother always added them to her potato soup and I do too, I like the different texture it adds to the soup. If you don't want to add them, they can be omitted but I would suggest you try them at least once. You'll need four egg yolks for this, be sure to separate the eggs while the eggs are still cold. If you don't want to use the egg whites right away, freeze them for later use....once I had enough, I made an angel food cake.

Add flour to eggs and toss until almost dry. I added 1/4 cup of flour here.

At this point I have added another 1/4 cup of flour making it a total of 1/2 cup. The yolks are still very wet and the mixture is still too sticky.

I added another 1/4 cup of flour for a total of 3/4 cup and it was just right. I was using the yolks from large eggs so if you use smaller or larger eggs, the amount of flour you need to use may be different. The mixture should still be a little damp but not sticky. At this point you'll have to use your "clean" hands to finish making the rivels.

Gradually stir in rivel mixture, add everything even any flour that may not have mixed into the rivels. Simmer for at least another 5 minutes. Add salt to taste...I even like to add a little pepper.

And here it is, potato soup like my mom used to make.....only a little creamier with the addition of the instant mashed potatoes. I like to just sit down with a bowl of this warm tasty soup and enjoy it on it's own or sometimes make a grilled cheese sandwich, but my favorite way to eat it is the way we ate it at my mom's kitchen table, with bread and butter. Mmmmmm it's so good and comforting!

I love this potato soup made just like this but one day I decided to try adding chicken broth to the soup instead of the water. I had just made a large pot of stock so added that to the potatoes in place of the water and then made the soup according to the rest of the directions. At first Michael and I didn’t care for it because it changed the flavor a little…well, it didn’t taste like Mom’s soup. Naturally, with the chicken stock it had a much richer flavor. The next day I reheated it and we loved it….strange but true. Now we don’t know which we like the best so I’m thinking it’s time for a potato soup cook off, I’m going to have to make both soups at the same time and have a taste test. We’ll have to invite family and friends over because, as much as we like potato soup, even we can’t eat that much.

Potato Salad

It's that time of year again.....the time of year when I think about picnics, family reunions and grilling out. When I think of all of those events I also think about food.....who am I kidding, I always think about food, but I especially think about it for special occasions. One of my favorite dishes to have at a summer gathering is potato salad....deviled eggs is another but I'll talk about that in another post. Potato salad....what can I say about it.....except that there are many variations on how to prepare potato salad and I’ve noticed that most people are very picky about which they enjoy eating. I like my sister Dorothea's potato salad which is just your basic mayonnaise based salad...actually our whole family likes it, we like it so much that potato salad is what she is always expected to bring to our family gatherings.

Several years ago I decided that I wanted to make potato salad and asked my sister for her recipe. Unfortunately, she didn’t have one. She told me that the way she learned to make it was from a job that she had when she was in high school. She waitressed at a local place called, I think the Sunshine Restaurant, where the cook made the potato salad; Dorothea said that she liked it so much that she asked the woman to show her how to make it. Anyway, my sister gave me a list of ingredients and then proceeded to tell me how many pounds of potatoes and dozens of eggs that she used…of course this was enough to feed our large family. Other than that, she couldn’t give me any help with the amounts of anything else. To start out…I decided that since I didn’t plan on feeding an army, I would definitely cut down on the amount of potatoes and hard boiled eggs. Once I decided on that, all I had to do was work with the rest of the ingredients. So, after a lot of trial and error, I’ve come up with something pretty close to.....

Dorothea’s Famous Potato Salad
Print Recipe

3 pounds potatoes, peeled and cubed (I prefer red or Yukon Gold but Idaho will do)
1-2 dozen hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped (I use about 1 1/2 dozen)
2-2 1/2 cups Miracle Whip Salad Dressing
2 tablespoons onion flakes. or to taste
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon celery seed, or to taste
Salt, to taste
Paprika (optional)

Cover potatoes with water and boil for 13-15 minutes, until tender. I add a little salt to the potatoes while they are boiling.
While potatoes are boiling, in a large bowl make dressing by combining 2 cups Miracle Whip, onion flakes, sweet pickle relish and celery seed.
After the potatoes had been cooked and drained, and while hot, add potatoes to the dressing mixture.
Mix in chopped eggs.
Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours but it's better if it sets in the fridge overnight.
The next day stir the potato salad and if it looks a little dry, add the rest of the Miracle Whip...or more, depending on how moist you like it.
If desired, sprinkle with paprika before serving.

*Ingredients can be adjusted according to taste.

You'll notice that I use Miracle Whip Salad Dressing instead of mayo...this is one of the few times that I do this. This is what my sister uses so I decided to do the same....afterall, I wanted it to taste as much like her recipe as possible. She told me that she uses dried onion instead of fresh because a lot of people don't like biting into onion...this way she gets the taste without the texture. The potatoes that I like to use are either red or Yukon Gold, I feel like they hold up better than a russet....that's just my preference. I generally use jumbo eggs...the only reason for this is that, since I'm boiling and peeling eggs (a job that I really don't care for) I figure I may as well boil enough to make deviled eggs and I just like the larger eggs for that....besides they fit in my egg carrier better too. As with all cooking, you don't have to be exact...you can use mayo, fresh onion, any size egg and any potato that you choose.

When I first started making potato salad, I was always told to boil the whole potato, skin and all, drain them and peel while the potato is still hot. I often wondered what sadist came up with this idea....have you ever tried to peel a smokin' hot potato? It isn't easy or fun! Come to think of it, I think it was my mom who told me that...maybe she was trying to get back at me for the pain of childbirth. Lately I've noticed that whenever I see someone on a cooking show making potato salad or a recipe, they peel and chop the potato first, then boil it. This time, I decided to try it this way...... It worked perfectly, was painless and also cooked in a lot less time. By the way, you don't have to peel potatoes, especially if using red or Yukon Gold but I do....I prefer my potatoes naked.

Boil potatoes until tender - I usually put a little salt in with my potatoes while they are boiling.

Combine: Miracle Whip, dried onion, sweet pickle relish and celery seed.

 

After the potates have drained and while they are still hot, gently mix in the dressing mixture then add the chopped eggs. At this point, I like to give it at taste to see whether I need to add a little more pickle relish, celery seed or salt. Cover and refrigerate. I like to make mine the day before I need it so it can chill over night. The next day stir the potato salad and if it looks a little dry add a little more Miracle Whip.

I like to sprinkle on a little paprika before serving.

There you have it.....my favorite potato salad! I don't think it compares to my sister's but it's almost there...

  

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes - from the Pioneer Woman's Blog

Before arriving at Michael's last Thursday, I had already planned, for the most part, the different meals that I wanted to make. On Saturday, while preparing my grocery list, I decided that it might be nice to ask Michael if there was something that he would like to eat....he immediately replied, "meatloaf!" I think is probably his second favorite food....following crab cakes. So I added meatloaf ingredients to my shopping list.

I usually don't make gravy using the meatloaf drippings, I really never have much anyway, so just make plain old mashed potatoes. I love potatoes in any way shape or form but mashed potatoes without gravy or some additional flavor are just a little bit boring. One day while reading the Pioneer Woman's blog, I came across her recipe for Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes.....the recipe sounded very good, even though she adds cream cheese to them....wasn't too sure about that, but decided, what the heck why not give them a try. I've never made any of Ree Drummonds recipes, even though I read her blog regularly and Michael gave me her book, "The Pioneer Woman Cooks," for Christmas....her recipes all look good and none of them look difficult....that's always a plus.

Before heading out to one of our favorite local restaurants for lunch and then the library, I roasted four heads of garlic and left them on the counter to cool while we were gone. When we got home, I prepared the meatloaf and potatoes.  I followed her recipe and then added a head of garlic and tasted....still needed more garlic so added another head.....I ended up adding all four heads to the potatoes. These potatoes were delicious! They were nice and creamy and had a wonderful garlic flavor....yummy! This recipe is definitely a keeper.

I'm not even going to bother posting the recipe or step by step pictures. Ree Drummond does a far better job than I could ever do....so I'm just posting the links to her recipes.

Roast Garlic
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

I hope you try these potatoes and that you enjoy them as much as Michael and I did.

Herb Garlic Roasted Potatoes

 I know that it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything on my blog. I was home for a few weeks and don't do a whole lot of cooking while I'm there....I spend most of my time eating out with family and friends. Now that I’ve been back at Micheal’s, we’ve been on the go practically every day and eating out, at least one meal and sometimes two, on those days. We still have takeout containers in the fridge from the meals that I couldn't finish and some leftover pizza. I have only cooked once and that was scrambled eggs for breakfast last Saturday.  I told Michael that we have to stay home today and tomorrow so I can get some cooking done....before the groceries that we bought on Sunday have to be tossed.

I had a can of crab in the fridge that was in need of use before it spoiled so decided to prepare Michael’s favorite food…crab cakes. I usually serve fried potatoes with the crab cakes but was beginning to feel that I had done those to death and wanted something different. I had noticed an interesting looking recipe in the Winter 2010 edition of the Penzeys Spice catalog and had been planning on making that for several weeks but never seemed to be able to get around to it. Today I had the time and inclination to make the above mentioned potatoes.

Herb Garlic Roasted Potatoes
Print Recipe

2 heads of garlic
5-6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme, crushed
1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
6 large Idaho baking potatoes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Slice the tops of the garlic off, and brush with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Wrap in foil and bake for 45-60 minutes or until browned and fragrant. Let cool slightly. Push out the garlic cloves into a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil , salt, pepper, thyme and paprika. Mash with the back of a spoon until it resembles a thick paste. Add a bit more oil if it is too stiff.

Turn the oven up to 425 degrees F. Slice each potato into 3 or 4 thick slices. Spread generous amounts of the garlic paste between each slice and put the potatoes back together. Press them so they stick together. Put each potato on a piece of foil and drizzle with 1-2 teaspoons of oil. Sprinkle with a bit more salt and pepper to taste on top. Wrap tightly. Bake on a cookie sheet at 425 degrees F for 1 hour. Check to see that the potatoes are soft and have a caramelized crust on the bottom. If not, put them back in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes more. It really depends on how large the potatoes are. Serve whole smaller potatoes or several slices of larger potatoes to everyone. This recipe can be doubled or halved easily depending on how many people you have at your table.

Serves 6-10

Note:  Garlic mash can be made the day before and store it in the fridge. Take it out and let it come to room temperature  before adding to the potatoes just before cooking.

Cut top off of the garlic bulb/head

Brush with olive oil

Wrap in aluminum foil and put in oven to roast. After about 30-40 minutes I could really smell the garlic...yum!

Garlic after it has roasted for 60  minutes.

Squeeze garlic into a small bowl

Add olive oil

Add salt

Pepper

Thyme - I know...the picture is a bit blurry and the color is off.  I usually take a couple of pictures of each step but didn't this time.

Paprika. So....have you noticed that I'm left handed? It's really kinda of nice for a change because I have to hold the camera in my right hand in order to snap the pictures.

Mash the garlic until the mixture becomes a paste

The garlic mash....yummy. I think I may prepare this sometime when I'm roasting a chicken or turkey or it could even be used on fish.

Using potatoes that have had a very good scrubbing, cut into three or four slices.

Spread with garlic mash

Drizzle with olive oil

Sprinkle on some salt (I used kosher salt) and pepper....makes the skin taste soooo good.

Wrap each potato in aluminum foil, place on a baking sheet and bake for an hour. I had to add five minutes to mine since they were so big.

These potatoes were very good! The garlic had a nice mellow flavor due to the fact that it had been roasted, I could taste the thyme, which went well with our crab cakes since they had thyme in them too. I even ate the skin and I rarely eat the skin of a baked potato.

I'm so glad that I made the whole recipe instead of cutting it by half as I had originally planned.....I can use the leftover for home fries tomorrow. They should be awesome!

Michael said this was the best meal we've had all week. Gotta love him....he knows how to keep the cook in a good mood.

Fried Potatoes

I love potatoes….love them baked, mashed, boiled, roasted...any way they can be made, I enjoy eating them. One of my favorite ways to eat them is fried. When growing up, one of my favorite meals that my Mom used to make was salmon croquets, creamed peas and fried potatoes, so the other night I decided to make a variation of that meal for Michael and me. I prepared, crab cakes, peas (didn’t cream them..not sure Michael would go for that) and fried potatoes.

My mother made the best fried potatoes…they were a combination of soft and crispy. One of the reasons they were so good is that she fried them in bacon drippings. When I was little, she fried everything in either bacon drippings or lard…that’s just what you did back in the 60’s and before. She eventually switched from lard to shortening then to vegetable oil, but she always kept a small canister of bacon drippings by the stove where it was handy, to put  a spoonful in her green beans and to use in her fried potatoes. I'm sure she used it for other things but these are the two that stand out..guess it's because I liked them so much.

Since I try to be a little heath conscious (can't tell by looking at me), at least some of the time, I don’t eat much bacon, therefore rarely have or use bacon drippings. I don’t fry potatoes often either…carbs are the enemy (ooh, but I do love them)…especially for us diabetics, but when I do, I usually fry them in butter. During the holidays and while I’ve been staying at Michael’s, I’ve splurged and indulged in bacon and potatoes. I fried a whole pound of bacon to make my Fluffy Oven Eggs and Bacon and saved the drippings, knowing that I would be making fried potatoes later.

For the fried potates I used:

Russet potates (I used approximately a third, maybe more, of a 5 lb. bag…wanted leftovers) – thinly sliced
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Paprika, to taste
Bacon drippings

Peel and slice potatoes. I have this handy gadget called a V Slicer (an inexpensive mandolin) that I use, almost exclusively for making fried potatoes. It slices the potatoes quickly and much more evenly than I can, using a knife.

I tried something new this time; I soaked the potatoes in cold water. I read that it helps remove a lot of the starch from the potatoes. It did seem to work…my potatoes didn’t stick together as much as they usually do.

Remove potatoes from water and dry. I layered them on a plate, placing towels between each layer.

I preheated a large frying pan, on medium heat, placed some of the bacon drippings in the pan and then put a layer of potatoes in….sprinkled with salt; pepper and paprika…repeat this process until all the potatoes were in the pan.

Mom never used paprika but I recently started doing so. One of my favorite breakfast/lunch restaurants, Patterson’s Café (previously known as Uptown Bakery and Café) in my hometown of Oxford...which, by the way, makes a killer grilled meatloaf sandwich, uses it on their potatoes and I like the additional flavor it adds. Mom always used paprika as more of a garnish…to add color to potato salad, deviled eggs, etc, never as a seasoning.

Cover the pan and allow potatoes to cook, turning potatoes from time to time...I sprinkle on a little more paprika each time I turn the potatoes. Once the potatoes are tender, remove lid and fry a little more (may need to increase the heat some) in order for the potatoes to crisp up.

These are so good! This picture was taken before I covered them with ketchup...yes, I'm one of those people who put ketchup on home fries, hash browns and fried potatoes. Even with the ketchup, I could still taste the hint of bacon that you get from frying the potatoes in the bacon drippings.