The Fine Art Blog of Daz and Holly

Vincent Van Gogh’s first epic painting was his “The Potato Eaters”. He wanted, from what my heart and research has told me, was to show the honesty of the peasants who grew their own food and appreciated the fruits of their labor. One thing that art historians don’t emphasize is that the whole family is there, around the table engaged in a shared pleasure. Family was very, very important to Vincent, even though he rarely got to share a meal with loved ones, and unfortunately rarely was a meal brought about by the fruits of his labors.

Since Holly aka Chef Chauvinist Piglette, loves Vincent Van Gogh at least as much as I Daz do, maybe more, she named her yummy potato soup after him!

It’s the time of year for soup that makes your belly sing and warms the soul! Here is my Ode to the Dear, Lovely Vincent Van Gogh Potato Soup … Mmmm!
Recipe for Creamy, Steamy Van Gogh Potato Soup

Before I proceed, let me emphasize this: if you do not have some of these spices in your repertoire, dont worry about it! This soup is excellent with salt and pepper added to your liking. And, of course, feel free to improvise with your own favorites!

Ingredients:

8 russet potatoes, or 10 red potatoes
1 large white onion
2 T. Better than Bouillon Vegetable, Chicken, Beef OR
about 6 c. chicken broth OR
boullion of your choice, measured to about 6-8 c. water
3 T. flour
1 t. rosemary
2 t. garlic powder
2 t. salt
1 t. celery seed or salt
1 t. basil and/or tarragon
2 t. pepper (I use white pepper)
2 pinches saffron
3 egg yolks
1 c. heavy whipping cream or half-and-half or milk (in order of my preference)
1 c. unsalted real butter (margarine may be substited, but you will lose some of the ecstacy associated with butter)
1 c. hugs
An MP3 of Vincent by Don McLean

If you’re moderately lazy like me, don’t worry about peeling the potatoes, just wash your spuds, dice them up in bite-size pieces, place in a large pan and cover with cold water or broth, a little over the level of chunks-o-spuds, and bring to a boil over high heat. Once, boiling, reduce to a high simmer.

The broth or water in which you’re boiling your spuds will serve as the soup base. Because of this, add whichever of the following spices you may have or like, and some of the ones you favor which aren’t on my list:

celery seed/salt
garlic powder
tarragon
basil
salt
pepper

As you boil your perty little taters for about 12 minutes, peel all the unwanted papery layers off your onion and dice it up. Melt 4 t. of butter (or margarine … eeeewww) in a saucepan. If you wish, you may also sub in yummy olive oil. Also, if you’ve ever been as broke as me, and you even lack any of those three ingredients, use a few tablespoons of shortening or vegetable oil, that’s fine, too. Saute your onions over low heat, stirring occasionally, in the butter/oil until nice and clear and tender.

By now, your potatoes are probably nice and tender. Reduce the heat on the spuds to low, so that they’re gently simmering. As you wait for your onions to soften, now is an excellent time to take a sledgehammer to your telelvision set. If you don’t have one, smash your neighbor’s.

Once your onions are ready, dump about 3 T. of flour over them and mix well. You’ll wind up with a gooey gum of onions and flour. Let this mixture slightly brown by stirring over a medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Spoon or ladle broth from your simmering potatoes into the onions, stirring frequently. Add as much broth to make kind of a soupy mixture. Now, spoon that mixture back into the potatoes and mix well. It should blend nicely!

If you have saffron, add two nice big pinches to the soup now, mmmmm!!! Now also is when you should add the cup of hugs.

This is a great time to stop if you’re completely lactose intolerant. If you wish to thicken it a bit, just mix a few tablespoons of corn starch or flour with cold water and slowly incorporate it into the simmering potatoes, stirring constantly until thicker.

If you’re only moderately lactose intolerant, go ahead and complete the recipe, as the cream or milk used in this is fairly negligible.

Add about two cups of water to the soup and bring to a slight boil.

As the soup simmers, blend the cream and egg yolks together in a medium-sized bowl. With whisk or fork in your dominant hand, ladle or spoon steaming broth from the soup into the cream, whisking constantly and quickly. Continue to add steaming broth until you’ve doubled the amount of liquid in the bowl. Essentially, what you’re doing is poaching the egg yolks.

If you’re like me, you always forget to buy that damn egg separator when you’re out and about. Really, it’s easy to do it with the shell. Gently crack the egg, then break it open over a bowl, with the egg north and south, and the crack east and west. Carefully trade the yolk between halves until most of the white has dripped into the bowl below it. It’s okay if there’s a little egg white left around the yolk! And don’t worry if you can’t get it right the first few times – they’re just eggs and they’re cheap!

Once done, slowly pour the cream into the soup and simmer, stirring constantly. Your soup will become even creamier now, and only increase in creamy deliciousness as it is stored and re-heated.

If you didn’t take a sledgehammer to your television set, then turn it off and feed your family and friends your delicious Ode to Vincent Van Gogh Potato Soup while listening to Don McLean’s “Vincent” and discussing Van Gogh and what a wonderful, kind artist he was!

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