March 3, 2010

White In White? Is This Working?

Hello Friends~ ~ ~

I've got a few things going on here that I want to share with you. First thing is I would like to have your opinion about serving white soup in a white bowl. Maybe some of you might think I'm a little crazy but I consider these things when I'm serving food. Today as I ladled the soup into the bowl I was thinking, Should I be using the gold bowls that go with the Provencal plates? Personally the earthy warm colors of the plate seem to be asking for a creamier colored bowl not one so stark and white. What are your thoughts on the subject? I am not fond of the above picture. The white bowl is to cool for the surrounding warmer shades, to my eye anyway.

The plate is made by SAKURA and the patten is called Les Olives. I bought it a few years ago at a really great price because they were discontinuing the pattern. Such a shame because I really love it


OK, on to What's in the bowl?
Sorry folks but I really don't have a recipe for this soup. I can tell you what I used but the measurements are flexible depending on the size of your soup pot and the amount of potatoes you use. I needed to use up some of the many yams I had on hand so I made a big pot of Cream of Two Potato Soup. I used white Kenneback potatoes and yams in the picture above. The 3 small onions chopped and 3 garlic cloves minced.


This is the pot of the cubed potatoes finished boiling with the salt, pepper and 2 bay leaves. I drained off all the cooking water but a scant inch. Then added 4-5 cups of half & half, depending on how thick or soupy you like it.

You can also save this cooking broth for a vegetable broth for another soup later in the week. I sometimes do that with my pasta cooking water too. It adds lots of flavor to the coming broth to start with this water. You could add a chicken carcass and more vegetables and boil it down a bit to flavor it some more.



I hard cooked 11 eggs and chopped them up and added them to the pot. More salt & pepper and a few spoons of parsley and a dash of nutmeg. Oh, and 2 bay leaves to the pot.


I saute the onions and garlic separately till translucent and season with about 1-2 tsp. Thyme.
I used about 6 T. butter to do the saute. I love butter in Potato soup, it's a must.



Ta Da. The end result.




Oh no, What's this? A huge bowl with a plate on top. This bowl is living in my fridge for about 3 weeks now.



Here's what's inside. A clump of sourdough bread dough.
Yesterday I made 2 loaves from this clump and this will make 2 more, maybe tomorrow. It keeps in the fridge for a few days. I've been making this bread about every 3 days for the last 3 weeks and we are still not tired of it.
This is the easiest bread I have ever made, and the best tasting too. Perfect every time.
It's like a loaf of European bread chewy inside and crusty outside. We love it.



I got the recipe over at Heather Bullard's blog. I'm not going to recopy the recipe here but as soon as I have the link I'll put it up for you. It's extensive but after doing it once you can make this bread without the recipe.
Please click to go to Heathers Bread post.
If you are not familiar with this Beautiful Blog
you really must stop by.

This week I'm linking up to Susan at
for Table Scape Thursday.



Also linking up to Michael Lee at



Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit and please leave a comment for me.
I love to read your thoughts.
~ ~Ahrisha~ ~

22 comments:

Janean said...

*lovely* is my vote!

ahrisha, if it doesn't LOOK good it wont' taste as good in my humble opinion. thank you for caring.

Allie and Pattie said...

The soup looks wonderful and I'll be looking for that bread recipe!
xoxo Pattie

Linda @ A La Carte said...

I think it looks fine in the white bowl but I do agree a more cream colored bowl would look great. Soup looks yummy and the bread!!!!

Mid-Atlantic Martha said...

Oh wow! What great looking soup! No matter what color bowl you put it in. I think soup is what makes winter "livable" for me -- and this one sounds like it would hit the spot for sure!

My Cottage Charm said...

Looks so yummy I could almost smell it! :)
I wanted to invite you over to my blog for a party! :) I'm having my first ever Treasure Trove Thursday and thought you might like to put in a link to something you love!

Zuzana said...

It is close to lunch here and suddenly my steamed vegetables seem a bit boring.;)
Lovely pictures, wonderful meal.
xo
Zuzana

Sinful Southern Sweets said...

Hmm, I couldn't get my eyes off the soup to notice the bowl :) Looks wonderful!

CIELO said...

Wow everything looks delicious; especially that bread... I would love to be able to make bread some day... ;)

cielo

Karin said...

You are the BEST cook ever!

Marigene said...

Ahrisha, I think you have enough of a contrast between the soup and the bowl so that it looks great. And...that bread looks delish!

Jane said...

The soup looks and sounds wonderful! I will be trying it soon!!! and that bread...YUM!!! I even like the white bowl with the plate...a subtle look.

Thank you for visiting my blog today. I am so happy to meet you! We used to live in West Chester, PA...my first two boys were born up there. We loved exploring Lancaster County.It's so beautiful...and so very different from Florida.(We're native Floridians. PA was a shock...especially winter!)
I'll see you again, soon.
Jane (Artfully graced)

Karen at Nittany Inspirations said...

Thanks for sending me over for the bread recipe. I'm going to try it.

Yellow Rose Arbor said...

The soup looks delicious in the white bowl! I've never thought about using white and sweet potatoes in a soup!

Bread sounds wonderful!

Katherine

Rettabug said...

I've never had hard boiled eggs in a soup before. How interesting!

Your soup looks fine in the white bowl, as its not totally white.

We recently enjoyed some outstanding pickled onions as a side accompaniment to beef & while they were delicious, seeing plain white onions in a white bowl really didn't appeal to me. I only took a tiny bit & then went back for more when I tasted them! Visual appeal is so important. We taste with our eyes first.

I made soup & bread this week, too. :D

fondly,
Rett

Sandy said...

Oh delicious! :)

Unknown said...

Ahrisha...both your soup and bread look heavenly and I don't think the bowl color matters a bit but I am partial to serving food on white plates (bowls) :)

Blessings!
Gail

Rattlebridge Farm said...

I vote for the white bowl. Your soup looks delicious! Hope you have a great weekend.
Gollum
XX00

Chubby Chieque said...

NO worries with the white to white! The outcome is outrageous BEAUTIFUL.

Happy w/end.

Lady Katherine said...

How I love your plates! The soup in the white bowl has such lovely colors that make it look great with the plates!

Lady Katherine said...

PS come join me for Tea Time Tuesday, March 9th. Love the colors in the soup!

Helen said...

Just wanted to say HI on this beautiful Sunday!

Sandra said...

Mmhh this soup looks very jummy and I make sourdough bread myself,love it!