Coming back from vacation isn’t easy. Checking our calendars and suiting up for real life isn’t easy; not lying prone on a beach all day and eating blueberries for dinner isn’t easy. So we could afford a few more ways to make all of it easy — or at least easier — on ourselves.
Deborah Madison's Potato and Green Chile Stew is a dinner for easing out of our summer clothes and settling into fall — a one-pot meal that's unusual in that it doesn't simmer very long and is easily made vegetarian or vegan, but is still hearty enough that it can truly be the only thing you eat (and the only pot you dirty) tonight.
Even if we’re feeling worn by the specter of renewed responsibility, still a little sore from sunburns and stiff from road trips and water sports and long hikes — we can handle this soup. It’s the first thing we should strive to make, right after finishing off the bag of chips and the last of the roadside peaches.
This is all because you’re coaxing a whole lot from few ingredients, in not much time. Other than charring a poblano and rubbing off as much of its blackened skin as you can, making this soup is a straight shot that takes all of 30 minutes, start to finish.
Chop the chile, plus onions, garlic, and potatoes; sauté them with a nip of cumin and coriander; pour in stock (or better yet, water); then let it all bubble till the potatoes turn to the partly-melted, partly-chunked consistency of your choice (use the back of the spoon, for mashing, and your discretion).
Every ingredient contributes, which makes this the rare soup you can make successfully without having good stock (or cream or butter) on hand. You’ve got more than enough to drive the flavor from the chile and spices, and plenty of body and structure from the potato.
What pulls together is sweet, buttery, spicy, and smoky: a surprisingly soft landing for our tumble out of summer, but one that encourages us to get back up again. A little of summer’s vim, set straight by a fall frame of mind.
Deborah Madison’s Potato and Green Chile Stew
Adapted slightly from "What We Eat When We Eat Alone" (Gibbs Smith, 2009)
Serves 1 to 2
1 or 2 long green chiles or poblano chiles, roasted and peeled
1 Tbsp. sunflower seed oil or other vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1 garlic clove, minced
1 large russet or 5 smaller potatoes (a scant pound), peeled and chopped into 1 1/2-inch chunks
Salt and pepper
1 cup chicken stock or water
Sour cream to finish
Chopped cilantro to finish
Chop the chiles coarsely. Heat the oil in a wide pot; add the onion and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the coriander, cumin, garlic, and potatoes, followed by the chile, along with 1/2 teaspoon salt and give a stir. Cook together of a few minutes, then add the water or stock. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer.
Cook and cover until the potatoes are completely softened, about 25 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper. At this point you can mash the potatoes, or at least a few of them to give the dish a creamy sort of background, if desired.
Pour into a bowl; add a dollop of sour cream and the chopped cilantro.
This article originally appeared on Food52.com: http://food52.com/blog/11199-deborah-madison-s-potato-and-green-chile-stew
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