This potato soup began as a suggestion from Christian at my favorite fruit stand in Davis (Petrick Produce - off I-80 at the Petrick Rd exit next to the Chevron) while we were checking out some potatos. He had read the recipe in the (insert issue here) of Cook's Magazine and suggested we pick up the 2 lbs of russet and red potatos and 2 and a 1/2 BULBS of GARLIC and give it a try. On our way into SF we also decided that more ACME bread would be needed to complete the meal so instead of braving Monday afternoon traffic in Berkeley, we took a trip over the Golden Gate and decided to take the MUNI down to the SF location.
San Francisco HOURS
Mon, Tue, Wed: 6:20am- 7:30pm, Thursday: 6:20am - 8:00pm
Friday: 6:20am - 7:30pm
Saturday & Sunday: 8am–7pm
PHONE: (415) 288-2978
Marketplace Shop #15View Location
ACME Bread (SF) is no where near as quaint. But, it is located in the Ferry building surrounded by many other scrumptious specialty food shops which we plan to take advantage of for an upcoming dinner. We arrive at ACME just in time. Even without much selection we were able to find a simply amazing fresh whole wheat walnut loaf (see picture above), and another GIANT whole wheat round.
After a quick stop on the way home at the Church St. Safeway, we decided that our fresh ingredients should come from the little local produce stand across the street (go here for an excellent assortment of fresh produce & dirt cheap herbs and spices that don't come in bottles).
Golden Produce
172 Church Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 431-1536
So from here on out Christian actually followed the recipe (he made sure I knew that), which included simmering TWO WHOLE BULBS OF GARLIC for 35 min in the broth. Yum! The bulbs of garlic were removed and the cloves mashed. We added 1/2 the mashed cloves back into the soup and reserved the other half to use on our bread. The potatoes were added, simmered until cooked, and then pureed with our make-shift blender (electric mixer) until only a few chunks remained. Fresh thyme and a 1/2 cup of cream was added at the last min.
The soup was really good, and even though we don't know anything about wine pairing (YET) the Robert Mondavi Private Selection 2005 Chardonnay was a darn close to perfect paring.
Serves: probably 6-8 if used as a 1st course, about 4 if used as the main course. Irish potato farmers probably lived off of this.
Recommendations/Alterations: Soup can be more like chowder after pureeing, we added a bit of water to thin it out. Saved over night in the fridge makes this soup into something more like garlic mashed potatoes. Either eat it all at once, or thin it out with some water upon reheating.
Cook's Recipe: (to come)
