Sausage Potato Soup and Hockey Puck Popovers

We had a few guests for dinner tonight (my lovely cousins Elizabeth and Emily) so dinner was a blast with lots of conversation and laughter. I had some sausage in the refrigerator that I had to make soon or risk spoilage. I dug up an old soup recipe that I have been making for years. This is in no way health food, so to those of you on diets I wanted to give you fair warning.

Sausage and Potato Soup

1 16 oz package bulk sausage, cooked, crumbled and drained
3 medium baking potatoes, baked, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
1/4 cup butter
1/2 onion chopped
1/4 cup flour
3 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
3 cups lowfat milk
3/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until golden brown and tender. Stir in the flour; cook 1 minute stirring constantly. Gradually stir in the chicken broth, bring to a boil, stirring frequently until thickened and smooth. Stir in the milk, thyme, sausage and potatoes. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Stir in the Parmesan cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.
Makes 10-12 servings

My husband doesn't generally like soup for dinner since it is not very filling. I usually try to make a small side for him like grilled cheese sandwiches or biscuits. I wanted to experiment a little tonight so I made a popover recipe I found from the Barefoot Contessa. I have no idea what I did to these poor popovers but they were horrible. They were flavorless and really heavy. I won't share the recipe with you now but will try again and let you know when they come out better.

We had a bit of a disagreement over which wine to pair with this soup. My husband thought a Syrah would work well with the sausage. I was leaning toward a Pinot Noir because of the creaminess of the soup. We ended up opening up both bottles, so it was a win win situation. We had a 2007 Zaca Mesa Syrah and a 2008 Sunfish Pinot Noir.
Enjoy

Photo courtesy of Emily Carpio