baked potatoes and creamy potato soup

We are almost out of fresh food, but we do have a bag of potatoes. Remembering some of the food pins I pinned on pinterst. I had these baked potatoes at a restaurant and they tasted fabulous. I looked up how to make the roasted/bake potato and I was feeling for some creamy soup. This is my first time ever making something like this and I say it turned out great!! The soup was thick and had that potato flour taste, it was good, what I was looking for. The baked good was a bit dry; next time I think I would cover it with aluminum.

I followed theses recipes, but I was limited in ingredients so I had it improvise a bit.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/cheesy-chicken-chowder
I only used 2 rib of celery, 4 potatoes, handful of broccoli, I had string cheese but other than that I had all the other items for sauce (flour) mixture. I had this for lunch and off i go to class. When I came home it became really thick as it cooled. My mum told just add more liquid to thin it out. I reheat it and slowly add some water and stirred until it's the consistency I wanted. I also added a bit of salt too because the taste would have diluted.

http://www.marthastewart.com/332662/roasted-red-potatoes
I only had Russet potatoes and didn't have dill so used italian seasoning.

Smooth Mashed Potatoes

In cooking class, week 2 french cuisine. The chef made this smooth mashed potato to go with our chicken basque. It was the best mashed potato I have ever tasted. It tasted devine. I found a recipe similar to what the chef used. I saw him using a electric hand mixer to smooth out the lumps. I'm thinking once the potato is boiled you can use the mixer to mash the potato and add in other ingredients and mix until smooth.

Ingredients
1 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper (or white pepper)
1/4 cup olive oil, optional

Directions
Warm the cream with the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts; set aside.

Put the potatoes in a medium saucepan with cold water to cover. Bring to boil then add 1 teaspoon of salt and reduce the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes are very tender. Drain. Pass the potatoes through a food mill or a ricer into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the warm cream and butter mixture until the cream is absorbed and the mixture is smooth. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper and finish them off by stirring in 1/4 cup olive oil.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/velvety-mashed-potatoes-recipe.html

Potato Pancakes

BY: Foodwishes

Chicken,Mushroom & Leek Pot Pie with Creamy Potato...

By: Jessie-CookingMoments

Chicken Pie Ingredients:
25g Butter
1/2tsp Cooking Oil
250g Skinless+Boneless Chicken Thighs, cut in small pieces
1/4tsp Dried Thyme Leaves
2 Rashers Rindless Bacon, chopped
1/2 Leek, sliced
125g Button Mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 clove Crushed Garlic
1/6 cup Plain Flour
1 cup Chicken Stock
1/4 cup Corn Kernels
Salt & Pepper to taste
1tbsp Cream/Greek Yoghurt
1tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped

Method:
1. Melt 10g butter & oil in a non-stck frypan. Panfry chicken with dried thyme leaves until cooked through. Transfer to a bowl.
2. Melt the remaining butter in the same frypan, sautee bacon, leek, mushrooms & garlic over medium heat until the leek is softened & the bacon is slightly golden & caramelised.
3. Add flour & cook, stirring continuously for 15 seconds. Remove from heat & gradually stir in stock.  Add chicken, corn & seasonings & cook until the mixture is thicken & comes to the boil.  Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Transfer to bowl, stir in yoghurt & coriander & let to cool down.
4. Oil each ramekin. Divide filling among 5 ramekins.

TIP:
Do not over-fill with the meat filling or the sauce will spill out while baking in the oven. 90% full is perfect.

Creamy Potato Ingredients:
1/2kg Potatoes, peeled
20g Butter
2-2.5tbsp Milk
Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Cook potatoes in a pot of boiling water until tender, drain & mash until smooth.
3. Add butter & milk & mix well. Add salt & pepper to taste.
4. Place mashed potato in a piping bag with a star nozzle tip fitted(Wilton 1M). Pipe it on top of the chicken meat filling.

5. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until some parts of the potatoes are golden & crisp.

Creamy Ham and Potato Soup

LINK:
http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2010/10/ham-and-potato-soup.html

The creaminess of this picture looks so good too. ugh! I really want some. It's so dejecting to look at all these food pictures and can't eat them.

6 servings
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1/3 cup diced celery
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup carrot, diced (optional)
1 cup diced cooked ham (buy a ham steak in the deli section)
3 1/4 chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste
5 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk

Instructions:
1.Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, carrot, ham and chicken broth in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the salt and pepper.

2.In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk so that lumps don’t form and until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.

3.Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through.

4. Top with cheddar cheese, chives, and bacon if desired. Serve immediately.