(Lower Carb) Baked Potato Soup

In keeping with our effort to avoid wheat and reduce our carbohydrate intake, I have been rereading a lot of my cookbooks. I found a recipe for baked potato soup in Skinnytaste that looked promising. Basically it was a swap out of cauliflower for some of the potatoes, and low fat milk and stock for the liquid. I took that idea and came up with my own version. It was really tasty and I didn’t miss the extra carbs at all. I love a good potato soup and I usually just throw celery, onion and potatoes in a stock pot and boil them. This is actually a little more flavorful and I don’t mind cutting some carbs at the same time.

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This isn’t low calorie, but it is low carb and wheat free which is what I was going for here. This is what I used:

• 3 medium baking potatoes, washed
• 1 medium head of cauliflower cored and chopped into medium pieces
• salt/pepper/olive oil
• 4 tbs. butter (unsalted) – I forgot to put it in the pic but you know what butter looks like, right?
• 1 medium onion diced – about 1 cup – decided to add after the pic
• 1 small clove garlic
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/2 cups half and half
• 2 tbs. pecorino cheese, grated – optional
• Sour Cream/bacon/cheddar cheese/green onions for garnish – optional

Coat the potatoes with some olive oil, salt pepper on both sides. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven on a parchment (or aluminum foil) lined sheet pan for about 40-45 minutes, depending on the size of your potatoes. When there is about 20 minutes to go on the potatoes, add the cauliflower to the baking sheet, sprinkle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and return the sheet pan to the oven. I use my meat thermometer and when the potatoes are 200 degrees in the center they are done. Otherwise just use a paring knife to check the doneness.

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While the potatoes and cauliflower are roasting, melt 4 tbs. of butter in a large stock pot. Add the onion and cook over medium heat until they are soft, about 10-12 minutes. Add the garlic and cook about 2 minutes. Season with about 1 teaspoon of salt and a couple of turns of cracked black pepper – as much as you like. Add the stock, cover, and lower the heat to medium low.

Once the potatoes are done and the cauliflower had a little toast to it, remove the sheet from the oven and let the potatoes and cauliflower cool. Add the cauliflower to the stock pot and let that cook with the onions and garlic for about 10 minutes or so. Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel all but one of the potatoes and chop them up- I left some skin on just for some texture and the nutrients, plus I like the skin but I didn’t want to overwhelm the soup so I just left the skins on one of them. Leave more or less depending on how you like things…it’s your soup after all. Stir in the chopped potatoes and let that cook for about 5 minutes. Add the half and half and let that cook about 10 minutes. Use either an immersion blender (seen in the pic below) or puree in batches in a stand blender until the soup is blended to a consistency that you prefer. Be careful with the hot liquid if using a blender…be sure to use a kitchen towel and open the top valve to let the heat escape. Use either tool according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Safety first! Return to the pot and stir.

Serve up with any or all of the garnish options. Enjoy!

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Note: Nutritional info care of Wikopedia

Cauliflower (about 1/2 cup) 5G carbs, .03G fat, 2G fiber

Potatoes (about 1/2 cup) 17G carbs, .09G fat, 2.2G fiber