Day 61 - Blue Cheese Potato Chips (with roasted tomato soup)

Remember all those potatoes we bought last week . . . I thought I would make homemade potato chips, and of course I couldn't just make plain old chips (that would be too easy) so I decided on blue cheese potato chips (we have a large tub I need to use up). Well, I couldn't just serve potato chips for dinner so I decided to also make some roasted tomato soup, I have made tomato soup before, but it was back in college and I am sure I made it differently this time - so that was new too.

Let's start with the soup, Roasted Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

5 Medium tomatoes, quartered and seeds removed
1 large yellow onion, diced
6 cloves of garlic (4 to roast with the tomato & 2 for the other veggies)
4 medium carrots, diced
4 stalks of celery, diced
2 cups of water
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 small can of tomato past
1 can of V8 (12 oz)
Balsamic vinegar (1/2 cup)
Olive Oil
Bay leave
Basil, dried (1 tablespoon)
Ground red pepper (2 teaspoons - add more or less depending if you like spicy)
Kosher salt
Fresh cracked pepper
Cream (optional)

Roast the tomatoes: Preheat the oven to 500F (yes, that is correct, it is VERY hot). Take the prepared tomatoes and spread them out on a piece of parchment paper, include 4 minced garlic cloves and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar also sprinkle with some salt & pepper.

You let them roast away for about 40 minutes and when they are finished should look like this (set aside and let them cool for about 10 minutes)

These roasted tomatoes were so yummy - especially considering the not-so-fresh winter tomatoes that are available in Kansas this time of year . . . I am going to have to try a twist on some other recipes I love that call for tomatoes and roast them first, like a caprese salad (I am sure I will blog about that soon). OK, back to the soup - while the tomatoes are roasting add your onion, carrot, celery and 2 garlic gloves that are diced into a large pot at medium heat with a bit of olive oil in to coat the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with salt and toss in the bay leaf. Put the lid on so the carrots & celery cook down a bit.

After about 10-15 minutes add in everything else: roasted tomatoes (and everything else on the baking sheet, like the juices), diced tomatoes, tomato paste, V8, 2 cups of water, dried basil, red pepper - put the lid back on and cook until the carrot are fork tender, about 15 more minutes.

Now it is time to blend. I started with my hand-held immersion blender and got it down to a good consistency

But I wanted a smoother soup, so I got out the blender. I also made a last minute decision to add about 1/4 cup of cream (to about 1/3 of the soup)

*This is about 1/3 of the soup - since I made the recipe up as I went and just kept adding stuff it made quite a bit, I would say about 10 servings. I ended up making 1/3 for dinner tonight and added 1/4 cup of cream to that, once it was all blended well I put it in a smaller sauce pan to warm up and added a bit more salt & pepper, to taste. I took the other 2/3 and put it in 2 separate containers (no cream added - I would suggest waiting until you rewarm it on the stove and add it then if you want to) - 1 container will be for dinners later this week and the other I will freeze.

Now for some homemade chips to go with our soup, Blue Cheese Potato Chips

Ingredients:

4 medium russet potatoes
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
1 tablespoon milk
salt
Canola oil
Olive Oil

Peel the potatoes and slice them into thin chip shapes, about 1/8 of an inch thick (if you have a mandoline (someday . . ), this would be a fun thing to use it for.)

Once the potatoes are all sliced run them under cold water (or soak them in cold water and drain) until the water is clear, not cloudy. Then refill the bowl with cold water and some salt and soak the slices for at least 30 minutes.

In a cast iron pot (if you have something specifically to fry in even better) bring the canola oil (and I added a bit of olive oil) to 325F. Once the potatoes are done soaking, drain them and spread out on a clean towel & pat dry. Carefully add 1/2 of the potatoes to the oil (depending on the size of your pot you may have to do smaller batches).

Once they turn golden-brown remove them and place on paper towels to cool. Once cool place on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 400F. Mix the blue cheese & milk and zap in the microwave in 10 second intervals, stirring each time, until it is melted - about 40 seconds

Pour the cheese mixture on top of the chips and hand toss to make sure each one has some cheese & Bake for about 5 minutes (until the cheese just starts to bubble)

Toasty, gooey, yummy - blue cheese chips



Dinner is served . . .
Just before serving it I sprinkled a bit of Parmesan cheese on the soup. Everything was very tasty and the chips were perfect to dip in the soup :)

Other Firsts: I had my knitting group tonight and I learned how to weave the excess yarn back into your project - I am not sure I am doing it correct, but it looks like it should work ;) Also, my first project is getting close to finished, hopefully I will be ready to share that with you in the next week or so!