What to do with Leftover Potatoes

My husband got home from sea a few days ago, and I had defrosted the remainder of that fabulous brisket and the sauce to go with it for his 'welcome home' dinner. To go with it we had broccoli, prepared in the steamer earlier and turned on just ten minutes before we sat down to eat, and a casserole I'd prepared that morning of sliced potatoes layered with butter and cheese. Yum. Actually, it would have been better had I made a cheese sauce, but it was a busy day and I was trying to cook quick and easy dishes, no recipes needed and  few pots and pans to dirty. Baked potatoes would have been even faster, but the potatoes I had on hand weren't the best type for baking.

Being thin-skinned, I didn't even have to peel them for this dish. Thinly sliced onions are good in this casserole, but I didn't think of it at the time. In fact, with onions, you can leave out the cheese. Anyway, I had a lot of these potatoes, and they'd gotten damp, so I needed to go ahead and use them. So I made a 9x13 pan of potatoes with butter, cheddar, salt and pepper. We had tons left over. They were good reheated in the steamer, which kept the cheese from getting tough, but I still had a bunch left.

So I chopped them all up today and scooped them, cheese, butter and all, into a large saucepan. I added a pint of half-and-half and regular milk for volume. It needed more salt and a little additional cheese. I warmed it on low, and had a lovely bowl of very chunky, cheesy potato soup. It was good, but there was something missing. Then I remembered the fresh chives outside and wondered if frost had gotten them yet. They were still alive. The chives really made the difference. The second bowl was amazing.

I was actually surprised that the potatoes kept their shape and didn't just go to mush. But every type of potato is different. And every type of potato works for soup-making.

When my husband came in later, the pot had just been sitting on the stovetop, turned off, for a couple of hours. I gave him a spoonful. He declared it extraordinarily good and hoped it was tonight's dinner. There wasn't enough left for that, but I did manage to give everyone a cup as a first course. It was so very good that even I enjoyed it after having pigged out on it just a few hours earlier.

And if you have leftover mashed or baked potatoes? Make Creamy Potato Soup! A stick blender would be excellent for incorporating it enough that the potato hopefully wouldn't sink to the bottom and scorch.

Here are a few good add-ins for making soup from your leftover cooked potatoes of any type:

bacon
chives, onions, leeks, chives, green onions
any cheese
sour cream
dill
cooked cauliflower - a good veggie to hide in, or substitute for, potatoes
italian sausage and kale - make Zuppa Toscano
beef or chicken stock instead of a straight dairy-based soup
bits of leftover steak

What about either mushroom or beef stock or a french onion soup base, add leftover cooked potatoes, possibly onions and/or mushrooms, plenty of pepper and garnish with blue cheese crumbles. Let's call it Steakhouse Soup. Maybe I shouldn't have made that leftover steak and brisket into sandwiches this week. I'll try this soon and post the recipe I come up with. Give me a couple of weeks, though - we've had way too much red meat lately.

Also, you can make cold potato soup - Vichyssoise - with leeks and cream.

Obviously, without the meat add-ins, potato soup is fine for vegetarians, just not vegans, though I suppose you could use rice milk or something on that order if that's what you're used to. Also, soups just get better sitting in the fridge for a day, so they're great for making ahead. Let's face it - it's hard to go wrong starting with potatoes.