It is amazing how the simple potato can be made into so many comforting dishes, whether baked, roasted, fried or made into a gratin. Potatoes also make wonderful potato soup, whether it is a cold vichyssoise, a French potage or an American baked potato soup. Level-Up potato soup is really a twist on a French potage that gets an umami lift from a little miso, some freshness from a little lemon juice, some crunch from fried prosciutto, some tang from crumbled feta and some heat from chili oil and red pepper flakes. Sound interesting? Let's break down how and why this potato soup is so delicious.

French Potage

French potage is based on a medieval soup that used whatever vegetables were on hand, frequently potatoes. The soup was cooked in a kettle over the fire for days until it broke down into something delicious and creamy. Today we can make a potage without cooking it for days. We cook the potatoes and any other vegetables you want in some broth and then put them in a blender to achieve a creamy, silky smooth soup any without any dairy. Or if you like you can add a little dairy like you do in a vichyssoise.

Click to download our free e-cookbook: 15 Recipes To Make You Look Like A Star

To get the creamiest texture use a blender to process the soup. Food processors and immersion blenders are OK, but they will not get your the same silky result. See my tips for making creamed soups without the cream.

Miso

Miso adds umami, or deliciousness, to this soup. For a milder flavor use a white miso, or go big and use a darker miso for a deeper, more pungent impact.

Salt and Lemon

When I am seasoning a soup, or for that matter most any dish, the first two ingredients I generally add are kosher salt and lemon or lime juice. Often times, these two ingredients do the trick and nothing more needs to be added. Salt magnifies the innate flavor in food. Citrus livens up a dull dish and makes it sparkle. If you are trying to cut back on salt, you can lean harder on citrus to create flavor. In this soup, salt and lemon lift the blandness of the potato.

Note: SNFD is an Amazon Affiliate and we may make a small commission when you make purchases through our links.

For this dish, there are multiple ingredients that add some saltiness, so you don't need to use as much.  Miso, prosciutto and feta all add saltiness. Still, I add a pinch of Kosher Diamond Crystal salt when I am cooking the onions. Why? Salt helps draw out the moisture in the onions, and causes them to cook faster and brown more quickly. If you add salt at this stage, that may be enough for this soup. Always taste when you are doing the final seasoning and adjust accordingly.

.

Diamond Crystal salt is the workhorse in my kitchen. I prefer Diamond Crystal because of its larger, crunchy, irregular crystals. These chonky crystals have more airspace between each crystal, which means pound for pound, you use less salt when you measure out Diamond Crystal salt. One tablespoon of Diamond Crystal salt weighs about 3 grams compared to Morton's Kosher salt which weighs about 5 grams and standard table salt which weighs about 7 grams. Except in baking, I advocate salting to taste and not by measure.

Fried Prosciutto

I have to admit, I really like to fry my prosciutto. Why? It brings out the flavor of the prosciutto and adds crunch. Crunch is one of the characteristics that draw people to a dish. A single thin slice of prosciutto per bowl of soup adds tremendously to this soup. Bacon or pancetta can be substituted, but prosciutto will give you the best flavor and crunch reward.

Feta

Crumbled feta adds a tangy saltiness that contrasts brilliantly with potato. You could substitute cheddar or blue cheese and it would be good too, but you wouldn't get the briny tang delivered by feta.

Chili Oil and Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

When seasoning a dish, after salt and citrus I reach for some heat. On the counter next to my stove I keep a couple pepper grinders, a few varieties of salt and a jar of crushed red pepper flakes. I put the red pepper flakes on just about everything as they add a nice bite of heat that can really balance out a dish. Lately I have been also using hot chili oil when I want to introduce heat. I use Chinese Hot Chili oil a lot, but recently have fallen in love with Stonehouse Hot Chili Oil. It is a delicious garnish to this soup.

Note: I do not have a financial relationship with Stonehouse Olive Oil. I just love their products and use them almost exclusively for my. olive oil.

Image credit: Amazon

You might have noticed by now that my first seasoning go-to's are salt, acid and heat. I've been cooking this way for a long time, but absolutely loved it when I discovered Samin Nostrat's book, Salt, Fat, Acid and Heat. It explained so much of what I had been doing intuitively as a cook for decades. If you haven't already bought this book, I highly recommend it to both seasoned and novice cooks. She has an amazing grasp on how to cook intuitively without recipes. Even if you are wedded to recipes, her knowledge will help you simplify and improve on recipes by eliminating unneeded steps and helping you get the most flavor out of a recipe.

More on Blending this Level-Up Potato Soup

As I mentioned at the beginning of these recipe headnotes, if at all possible use a blender to puree this potato soup to get the best silky texture. Texture, like flavor, aroma and visual appeal is important in getting the best result in your cooking. When blending hot soup, just remember to let the soup cool a bit, don't fill the blender up more than about two thirds of the way and keep your hand firmly on the lid while operating the blender. Otherwise, the hot soup can expand and explode all over you. I unfortunately know this from experience...and more than one experience. Sometimes I am a slow learner. Print