Pesto Potato Soup

TWO DAYS TWO DAYS TWO DAYS! Wowza. You're just going to have to put up with my constantly counting down to our move to Asia, because it's TWO DAYS AWAY. I'll beat this topic until it's truly dead, don't you worry! The house is looking pretty darn good — mostly packed, excluding the kitchen. The plan is to finish the entire house today, do the kitchen after dinner tonight, and tackle the garage tomorrow morning before we get the moving truck. Fingers crossed that schedule works! The best part about this move, so far, has been that by selling so much of our furniture (and taking a remarkably strong approach to getting rid of things that no longer serve us) the amount of stuff we actually have to pack/move is diminishing! We probably have half the volume of things to move compared to when we moved last July! Hurray! That said, I'm pretty sure my brain will explode when I stop ignoring the garage.

One thing that's keeping me super excited to finish up packing and get on that plane: BUSINESS CLASS. I've never in my life bought a ticket for anything fancier than coach, and have only ever been upgraded for short/inconsequential flights. This time, since we used miles to book our tickets, we went for business class and I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED! I am absolutely terrible at sleeping in an upright position. Like, it just never, ever, ever, ever, EVER happens. Our seats to Vietnam recline TOTALLY FLAT, have electrical sockets for our computers/gadgets, and come with a ridiculous number of other perks. You guys might be used to this (maybe? I have no gauge for this), but I'm pretty psyched. This coming from the girl who really loves staying in hotels, no matter what/where/when/why. There's just something exciting about luxuries away from home! Aah the little things. I'm sure I'll be documenting my fully-reclined (hopefully sleeping) experience on instagram. While we're talking about instagram, it's probably going to be the best way to see behind-the-scenes and day-to-day stuff while we're gone… so you should check it out.

In our preparation for leaving I've been trying to use up as much food as possible. I really thought I would have planned it out better, and that we'd be down to a few cans of beans by now; however, we're rolling in food. It makes me feel really guilty, which I can't quite figure out (we're not going to let any of it go to waste). I'm inviting friends to come over tomorrow, once we've packed up the kitchen and therefore are done cooking, to raid our food and take it all away. If your'e in the Bozeman area and want some goodies (coconut flour! ten other kinds of flour! canned tomatoes! homemade raspberry jam! beans! rice! quinoa!), lemme know. I want this stuff to go to a good home and get lots of love!

This soup was a fortunate way to use up some lingering pesto and a few extra croutons (from this love-of-my-life soup!). I'm pretty sure there is no soup recipe more simple than this: sauté some onions, add potatoes and broth, cook until soft, add pesto, and blend. Spice accordingly (if needed!). Really, it's that easy. Perhaps this should be named "the soup for people who can't cook soup." I really don't think this can be botched. Please let me know if you do botch it, so my imagination can do some stretching. Really though, you can make this soup. AND! If your'e having cold, snowy/rainy, weird/typical spring weather (like we are), you might be really itching for some hot soup. Hot potato soup WITH pesto (which basically spells summer). It's like the perfect spring soup!

Pesto Potato Soup

• Author: by Mary
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 6 1x

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 large Russet potatoes, cubed to 1"
• ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 quart vegetable stock
• ½ cup basil pesto
• salt & pepper to taste
• extra basil, for garnish
• croutons, for garnish

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Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat, then add the onion. Cook for three minutes, or until softened.
2. Add the potatoes and the crushed red pepper flakes. Cook for two minutes before adding the stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are fork-tender.
3. Stir in the pesto, cook for another three minutes, then use an immersion blender to blend until completely smooth. Add more pesto as needed, and season with salt and pepper as needed.*
4. Top with croutons and fresh basil.

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Notes

As most prepared pesto is quite salty, you'll likely not need to add any more salt. Definitely taste the soup before adding salt.