| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 2 hr 25 min |
| Active: | 45 min |
| Yield: | 10 to 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 4 pounds red potatoes, unpeeled and quartered
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons good olive oil
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 4 cups chopped yellow onions (4 onions)
- 4 cups chopped fennel bulb (about 2 pounds)
- 3 quarts chicken stock or water
- 1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- In a large bowl, toss the potatoes with 1/4 cup olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes, until cooked through.
- Saute the onions and fennel with 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large stockpot on medium heat until translucent, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the roasted potatoes (including the scrapings from the pan) and the chicken stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 1 hour, until all of the vegetables are very soft. Add the heavy cream and allow the soup to cool slightly. Pass the soup through the largest disk of a food mill or chop coarsely in batches in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Taste for salt and pepper. Reheat and serve hot.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 362 |
| Total Fat | 17 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Carbohydrates | 43 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Sugar | 11 g |
| Protein | 11 g |
| Cholesterol | 30 mg |
| Sodium | 888 mg |
Reviews
I love this recipe but a couple things…Be careful about adding garlic to a pan in 400 degrees as it will burn, also if you don’t have a pureer than peel the potatoes. I used my blender to purée. It goes quick and does not show how to cut a fennel bulb but I’m sure you can google it. I used farm fresh sour cream and buttermilk for the dairy and along with my homemade enchilada bread…I thought it was was scrumptious…and even moreso after a couple days sitting in the frig.!
My husband, son, and I absolutely loved this soup. I halved the recipe, and it still made at least six servings. FYI, I kept to the instructions, with the following slight adjustments: For the potatoes, I used Yukons (as in the TV version), and they indeed cooked perfectly in the designated 30 minutes. I used an immersion blender instead of a foodmill, and left the texture slightly chunky. My stock is homemade (made from bones and veg, not Ina’s staggeringly wasteful stock made with several whole chickens, which beggars belief–I really wish she would reconsider this), and I know homemade stock makes a difference, as does roasting the potatoes. All in all, deep, satisfying and complex flavors, and most of the effort was in chopping the potatoes and fennel. A keeper.
Delicious! Easy to make and exactly what you want on a cold rainy night. Roughly halved the recipe and used peeled and roasted Yukon potatoes. After simmering and adding the cream I used an immersion (stick) blender and in less than a minute had a beautiful creamy soup. The fennel fronds at the end are a tasty addition. This will be a new staple. Yum!
Love this! I’ve been making this for years!
1 of her best!
I cannot let the poor rating on this recipe stand. I made this soup and it was delicious. My husband was crazy about it. I made a couple changes. I used Yukon gold potatoes and I peeled the potatoes before roasting them. Instead of sautéing the onions and fennel I roasted them on a separate sheet pan from the potatoes but I put both pans in the oven together to roast. That cut down on the simmering time from an hour to 30 minutes. I used the food processor to blend it all together. I also threw in some ham to make it a dinner soup. Honestly, I have never had a recipe from Ina that wasn’t great. She’s my go to on most recipes that I am looking for.
So much work for such fair results!! I used red skinned potatoes as directed in cookbook ( Ina used Yukon gold on tv which was no doubt tastier). The food mill was a disaster- the skins just clogged up the holes! I finally gave up – used my Immersion blender and then I strained the soup through a larger hole sieve strainer to catch the skins. My soup was more velvety and less chunky than shown but had bits of skin still in it. The flavor was pretty mild, and the fennel was an after thought in the flavor profile. It also makes a huge amount which is difficult to freeze due to the addition of the cream. Next time I plan to half the recipe, peel Yukon gold potatoes, and use less of them ( 30 minutes is not enough time to roast a full sheet of potatoes at least in my oven) and I would roast the onions and fennel too on a separate sheet to really pull out the flavors and sweetness of the fennel. I would chunk the garlic instead of a mince, so that also caramelizes and develops more flavor. I added a bay leaf for good measure, and it didn’t hurt. Also, I would blend the soup and add the cream when reheating and serving. It should be easier to freeze without the cream and it could be added when re heated.
Easy and delicious. Roasting the potatoes gives it a depth of flavor that is different from the typical potato soup. Almost tastes like there are mushrooms in there. Will be making again.