As I paced the housewares aisle at Kmart tonight, I decided that blenders are like toothbrushes: the base technology, which in both cases is exceedingly simple, has never changed. But that hasn’t stopped marketers from making up additional “features” as a point of difference or so they can re-sell the item to the same consumers multiple times.
The store must have had 20-some selections and my mind whirred with speed options, pitcher styles and button layouts. The one I ended up with, a Hamilton Beach model for about $40, I chose simply because it was fire-engine red. Well, and it had a glass pitcher, which I think would be more durable than a plastic one.
I bought the blender for making another Moosewood soup recipe I got off their site, reprinted from the 1987 cookbook New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant. I made it mostly without substitutions or additions, other than omitting the parsley garnish. And curiously, in the version of the recipe on Moosewood’s site, dill is mentioned in the steps but not the ingredients list, so I threw in two tablespoons, fresh and chopped, and that seemed about right.
Very Creamy Potato-Cheese Soup
- 3 to 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups chopped onions
- 1 large garlic clove, minced or pressed
- 2 large potatoes, unpeeled and coarsely chopped
- 1 large carrot, unpeeled and coarsely chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- 3 cups vegetable stock or water
- 1 1/2 cups milk (or part cream)
- 4 ounces of cream cheese
- 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese (3 ounces)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- chopped fresh parsley
- In a large soup pot, sauté the onions and garlic in the butter until the onions are translucent. Add the potatoes and carrots and sauté for 5 to 10 minutes longer. Add the stock or water and dill and simmer until all the vegetables are tender.
- Puree the vegetables with the cream cheese and milk in a blender or food processor. Return the soup to the soup pot. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the cheddar cheese and reheat gently. Serve each cup or bowl garnished with chopped fresh parsley.
It’s a rich and hearty soup. I’m normally not a fan of cream-based soups because they resemble mud-like pabulum. But this one has flecks of orange from the carrots, tiny pieces of potato skin, and bits of fresh dill.
You could use cream to make the recipe richer (I used 2% milk, which to a skim-raised fellow like myself is cream), but the blend of cream cheese and cheddar cheese don’t fail on the creaminess front. If you’re all about cutting down on fat, the recipe’s authors note you can substitute Neufchatel cheese, which is lower in fat than cream cheese, but has a similar taste and creaminess.