This recipe combines two of my favorite soups: savory onion and creamy potato.
It is delicious with a wedge of fresh-from-the-oven cornbread slathered with butter.
My favorite cornbread is the one that's piping hot in my favorite cast-iron skillet. That's not to say I don't have a family recipe (or three) that I make again and again, it's just that I'm always open to trying new ones. You see, I've never met a cornbread I didn't like. Even the sweet kind, though I tend to think of it as cornmeal cake.
The Dairy Hollow House Skillet Sizzled Cornbread from Crescent Dragonwagon ranks near the top of my list, but I recently gave a different recipe from Dragonwagon's book, The Cornbread Gospels a try. Truman Capote's Family's Cornbread.
There's no flour in it, making it ideal for sharing with gluten-free friends or those avoiding white flour.
Potato-Onion Soup
4 tablespoons butter
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 medium sweet onions, thinly sliced
Salt
Olive oil
3 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 teaspoon vegetable soup base
1 bay leaf
Water
3/4 cup milk (I used 2 percent)
1/4 cup half-and-half
Ground black pepper
1/4 bunch fresh chives, minced
Freshly grated fontina cheese or other smooth-melting cheese
In a large soup pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add onions and a generous pinch of salt and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are very tender, about 30 minutes. If necessary, drizzle in some olive oil. Add the potatoes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, vegetable soup base and bay leaf; add enough water to just cover. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partly covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf. Using an immersion blender (or working in batches in a traditional blender), puree soup until smooth. Return soup to low heat. Stir in the milk and half-and-half and cook until heated through. If soup is too thick, thin with water or broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve garnished with chives and fontina.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
Truman Capote's Family's Cornbread
1 tablespoon butter or bacon drippings
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups stone-ground white cornmeal
Heat oven to 450 degrees.
Place the butter or bacon drippings in a large cast-iron skillet; heat skillet in oven.
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and buttermilk.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, salt, baking soda and cornmeal.
Stir the egg mixture into the cornmeal mixture, mixing just until cornmeal is moistened.
Remove the skillet from the oven and swirl fat to coat. Pour the batter into the hot skillet. Smooth top. Return skillet to oven and bake 20 to 25 minutes.
Serve hot.
Recipe adapted from The Cornbread Gospels by Crescent Dragonwagon
Food on 01/04/2017