Grandma's Kitchen Table

Wednesday with Donna Hay: Pea and Mint Soup

      My eighty-eighth recipe with the Wednesday with Donna Hay group is Pea and Mint Soup, was chosen by Sarah,  and is found online here. 

      The ingredient list:  peas, potatoes, chicken stock, cream, fresh mint leaves, freshly ground black pepper, and sour cream. 

      Soup...I'm always happy when one of the group picks soup as Donna Hay's soups are always so fresh and delicious.  I'm usually not too keen on fresh mint in savory foods, but have to say that I really did enjoy the taste it gave to this soup.  There wasn't an overwhelming amount of it, just a little to give a nice fresh little something in the final outcome. 

      I made the recipe as stated, the only change was adding the frozen peas after the potatoes were cooked as I did not want the peas to turn to mush or be overcooked in the amount of time it took to cook the potatoes.  That worked well for me. 

      The combination of the peas and potatoes is nice, the little bit of cream goes well with both ingredients.  For the dollop of sour cream on the top, the recipe instructs us to mix freshly ground pepper into it before adding it to the soup.  There is a lot of pepper in this recipe which I loved (not overwhelming, but if you don't care so much for pepper, you might want to start with a lesser amount and taste along the way).  It added a nice kick to a soup which sometimes can be a little bland without a spice added.  All in all, definitely a repeat, delicious.  The frozen peas make it one that you can make year-around with ingredients in freezer or pantry.  As a bonus, it's so pretty.  

      Wonder what the others thought?  Gaye's post is here.  Chaya's post is here.  Next week is  Gaye's choice, Paper Bag Snapper with Preserved Lemon, found in Donna Hay's cookbook Seasons on page 40.  Join us and leave a link to your post, no commitment required.

Wednesday with Donna Hay: Caramelized Onion and Potato Stacks

      My eighty-seventh recipe with the Wednesday with Donna Hay group is Caramelized Onion and Potato Stacks, was chosen by Chaya,  and is found online here. 

      The ingredient list:  olive oil, onions, potatoes, chicken stock, butter, and thyme sprigs (she doesn't say salt and pepper, but that's a given and I added those in moderation). 

      Mark loves all things potato so I was eager to try this recipe as it looked rather cute in the photo on the site. I'm all about the cute factor. Sometimes cute takes a bit of doing, but it wasn't hard or terribly time consuming and the big advantage is that if you are cooking for any number of people, you can assemble these, bake them, and have little individual portions that look cute on the plate at the end of it all. 

      And the taste? The taste was delicious, the combination of the onion, potato, butter, chicken stock, and thyme is classic and delivered a nice combination while at the same time keeping each individual flavor its own...they were good and in the future will make a nice accompaniment to any number of meals we serve around here.  I will definitely make these again.
       The only thing I changed in the recipe was that I made them in little ramekins instead of muffin tins, same concept, I just buttered the ramekin (did not use parchment) and they slid right out when they were finished. For some reason, I thought working with one at a time like that when I was plating them seemed like it would work better for me, klutz that I can sometimes be in the kitchen and all. 

      Wonder what the others thought?  Gaye's post is here.  Margaret's post is here.  Chaya's post is here. Sarah's post is here.  Next week is Sarah's choice, Pea and Mint Soup, found online here.  Join us and leave a link to your post, no commitment required.