It seemed like the perfect day to post Mamaw's Potato Soup Recipe. I grew up on this soup and it is still my go-to comfort food. A word of warning, this is the over-large family version. You may need to scale it down for your family, or just eat it two days in a row. When you refrigerate it, it appears to turn into mashed potatos, just add milk and water in equal amounts when reheating to re-liquify it. (No picture, sorry. We are always too excited to get to the eating!)
Mamaw's Potato Soup with Egg Dumplings
5# Potatoes, peeled and cut into 2" pieces (rough cut) (I like white or russet for this)
3 large stalks celery, cleaned and chopped.
1 Tablespoon butter
Water,
Salt,
Milk (lots - probably about 4 cups)
6 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
4 eggs
1 to 1-1/2 cups flour
Cook the celery in the butter in a saute pan. Just cover the potatoes with salted water and bring to boil. Add the celery to this. Once they boil, reduce heat to simmer and let cook 10 minutes. Test with a fork to see if they are almost done.
Meanwhile, beat the eggs with a fork and slowly add the flour until it is a thick batter. 1-1/4 cups of flour should be about right. Add about a tsp. of salt to the mix. These are your egg dumplings.
When the potatoes are nearly done, drop the dumplings on top of the potatoes and replace the lid on the pot. Simmer 15 minutes. Test dumplings to make sure they are done; they should be dry inside.
By now your water should be down to less than half the level of potatoes. Slowly add milk until it is up to the level of the potaotes; heat this until bubbly. When the milk is hot, add the cheese and turn off the heat. Slowly stir the cheese in.
Enjoy!
Variations:
Add cooked, crumbled bacon to the top
Include two peeled chopped carrots with the potatoes
Add a chopped onion to the celery (we're allergic)
Top with chives or green onions
This is also a very good potato soup recipe made with a really special cheese, Cougar Gold.
