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I had a very purple morning in my kitchen the day I made this soup. I had my soup pan bubbling away on one side of my stove top and a large vat of German Red/Purple Cabbage stewing on another. I truly felt like a witch stood there tending to my two cauldrons..lol.
I have spent the last two years trying to find purple potatoes in England. My Love has spent hours cruising all the seeded potato and seeds sites here trying to find a purple variety. A few month back we thought we had succeeded at finding some a farmers market. Bought the whole box and when we got home..we were gutted to find out they only had blue/purple skins and white insides. Very cunning sales technique of the woman on the farm stall..going back there? I think not..what a fibber!
But during a slow cruise around one of the stores of the 'expensive' supermarket chain here in
the UK (Yes you know who you are and should be ashamed at most of your prices!) that we found a bag of Purple Potatoes. We very nearly did a victory lap around the store! And for a large bag of them they were reasonably priced at £1.45. Not too bad. So they were hastily put in our trolley.
Back home I opened the packet and put them in my potato storer but couldn't help scratching the skin of one..just to be sure. lol. Yep..beautiful gemstone purple loviness waited for me. Success. I knew which recipe I wanted to try out first and it can be found in Colleen Patrick-Gourdreaus wonderful cook book Color Me Vegan
.It was very easy to make and the results were a bluish/purple soup that was rich in texture and very potatoey in flavour. I felt very peasanty as I enjoyed my steaming hot bowlful. We really enjoyed it after we stopped chuckling over the colour. I know...I know..small things..simple minds..Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were very excited by the purple potatoes. lol
I made one major adaption to C.P-D's recipe..which was the milk/stock ratio. I am not a huge lover of milky soups. I don't mind a hint of milk but I don't like a 'knock you over the head milky' soup. I had a very bad experience with a Courgette Soup which was predominantly soya milk..that completely curdled and did nothing for the texture. This was back in my very early days of being a vegan and it still makes me shudder to think of that soup. *shudder* I had very little experience with soya milk at that point and made us both eat the whole soup, thinking that was how it was supposed to be. lol.
So I changed the stock amount to 3 cups and the milk down to 1/2 cup. It was still silky and rich in texture and much better suited to our palates. The recipe below is C.P-D's exact recipe.
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| Colleen's Purple Potato Soup |
(Recipe from Colour Me Vegan/Patrick-Goudreau)
1 tbsp oil or water, for sauteing
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2lb purple potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 small head of cauliflower, cut into florets
2 cups/470ml veggie stock
1 1/2 cup of vegan milk of choice
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Heat the oil in a soup pan and saute the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes until the garlic has gone golden brown.
Add the potatoes, cauliflower and veggie stock. Cover, bring to the boil, and then reduce to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are cooked through..approx 20 minutes.
Once the potatoes are fork tender, stir in the milk and cook until heated through, about 10 minutes longer.
Puree the soup in a blender until it is completely smooth. Taste, and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve.
Enjoy the purple fun!
~R~
