Potato Potage

A Basic Chicken Soup

Whenever I see a chicken carcass at the supermarket I make a basic chicken stock, portion it and keep it in the freezer. Then it is there when I need it, for potage or vegetable soup. It widens what you can cook enormously.

This time, a potato potage that goes beautifully with sourdough. Since I have breakfast in mind and want something clean-tasting, there is no cream or milk in it.

Ingredients:

• A Basic Chicken Soup500cc
• Potatoes, 2 medium (about 250g)
• Onion, half a medium one
• Butter4g
• Salt, 1/2 tsp
• Peppera pinch
• Cinnamon, nutmega pinch
• Chives

1. Wash and peel the potatoes, cut them into quarters and arrange them in a steamer. Bring water to the boil in the pan below and steam until a bamboo skewer slides through easily. Boiling makes them watery, so steaming is better.

2. Heat a frying pan and melt the butter. Fry the finely chopped onion. High heat is fine for this. When you think it has caught, usually only the very surface has coloured. Add a little water and keep frying; the colour dissolves out and spreads through the whole thing. Do not be afraid of catching it — fry hard over high heat and drive the water out of the onion.

3. Take about half the chicken stock, add the softened potato from step 1, the fried onion from step 2, salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg, and blend until smooth.

4. Add the remaining stock to mixture 3 and heat it through.

5. Scatter over the chives and it is done.

At home I use a bamboo steamer for steaming vegetables. It sits on a wok, a Dutch oven or a stockpot, which is very handy. And for blending, a Braun hand blender is powerful and easy to use.