I found a recipe last Fall in my Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook for German Potato Soup. I was looking for a potato leek soup to use some aging leeks. This recipe appealed to me because it had cabbage, which meant I could substitute in the lactino kale and it didn’t require me to purée anything into a smooth soup.
-
1 onion, chopped
- 1 leek, trimmed and sliced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 c. lactino kale, 1/4″ slices
- 4 c. beef broth
- 1.5 lbs potatoes, diced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 t. salt
- 1/2 t caraway seeds
- 1/4 t nutmeg
- 1.5 lbs smoke pork, 1/2 inch cubes
Combine all above ingredients in crock pot, cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours.
When the vegetables are tender, remove the bay leaf. With a slotted spoon, remove most of the potatoes and mash them in a separate bowl. Add the mashed potatoes back to the crock pot and add :
- 1/2 c. sour cream
and mix thoroughly.
This recipe is great because you can substitute freely. The first time, I used kale and left over beef roast. This time, I used Swiss chard (greens and those lovely yellow and red stems) and left over smoked pulled pork from the weekend. Add corn bread goldfish, and we had a festive Christmas Eve dinner.
The original recipe had bacon and parsley, ingredients I did not have in my house that day. This was a great clean out the crisper recipe. Mashing the potatoes and adding them back gave the soup a heavier, smooth texture and the sour cream added the extra wow! factor (and is probably what makes it “German” potato soup).
As an added bonus, I bet you could slip some cubed turnips in there and no one would notice! 😉
Looks hearty and just right for this cold weather!
My kids would notice the turnips. They always notice the turnips.
I work with a German gal, and she brought lunch the other day–a beef and sauerkraut . . .stew or soup type thing, with some sort of tomato sauce base. We ate it with a spoonful of sour cream and a sprinkle of shredded cheddar, with a piece of German rye on the side. Delicious! I was thinking that would get my kids to eat sauerkraut–but now I’m thinking of adding some potatoes to it . . . maybe a scoop of mashed in the center . . .
Thanks for a new recipe and some further inspiration!