Potato Soup — The Recipe I Made When I Needed Something Warm Enough to Feel Safe

I went back to the blog this week. The first post since Larry died. I did not write about Larry. I wrote about soup. I wrote about butternut squash soup, which is a fall recipe I have posted before, but which I remade this week because I needed to make something and write about it, and soup felt manageable. Soup felt like the right distance from grief: close enough to be warm, far enough to be safe.

The readers noticed the silence. Twenty messages asking if I was okay. Ten messages saying they missed me. Five messages from truckers who said they prayed for me, which they did not know why, but they felt something was wrong and they prayed, and the prayers of strangers are a kind of food too, the invisible kind, the kind that fills the spaces between meals.

I wrote back to some of them. Not all. I said I had a loss in the family. I did not say my father died on I-80. I did not say his truck drifted onto the shoulder and stopped. I did not say the words that I am not ready to put on the internet because the internet is forever and Larry memory is mine and I am not ready to share it with twenty-five thousand people. Someday I will. Someday I will write about Larry and the truck and the buttermilk and cornbread and the brown sugar in the chili. But not yet. Not this November.

I made the butternut squash soup and posted the recipe and the comments were kind and the soup was warm and I sat at the kitchen table and ate it with bread and felt the smallest, most fragile version of normal return, the way warmth returns to fingers that have been in the cold: slowly, painfully, and then all at once.

Dave sat with me. He ate soup. He did not ask if I was okay because he knew the answer and the answer was no, and asking would have required me to say it, and saying it would have made it more true than it already was. So he ate soup. He ate bread. He was there. Being there is Dave entire skill set, and it is the only skill set I have ever needed.

The butternut squash soup I wrote about that week was really just a stand-in for this — for any soup that asks almost nothing of you and gives back more than you put in. Potato soup is the one I turn to when I cannot decide what to make, when the kitchen feels unfamiliar, when I need something that will be ready before I run out of reasons to keep going. It is humble and it is warm and it does not ask you to explain yourself, which is exactly the kind of company I needed at that table with Dave.

Potato Soup

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 4 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• Shredded cheddar cheese, for topping
• Sliced green onions, for topping
• Bacon crumbles, for topping (optional)

Instructions

1. Soften the aromatics. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 6 minutes until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
2. Add potatoes and broth. Add the cubed potatoes and pour in the broth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 18 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes are completely tender and yield easily to a fork.
3. Mash to your liking. Use a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon to roughly mash about half the potatoes directly in the pot. This gives the soup its body while keeping some texture. For a smoother soup, use an immersion blender and pulse just a few times.
4. Stir in dairy. Reduce heat to low. Stir in the milk and sour cream until fully incorporated. Do not let the soup boil after this point or it may separate.
5. Season and finish. Add salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Taste and adjust seasoning. Let the soup warm gently over low heat for 3 to 4 minutes before serving.
6. Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with shredded cheddar, green onions, and bacon crumbles if using. Serve with crusty bread or crackers.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 265 | Protein: 7g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 580mg