ginger potato soup

I got the idea for this soup when I ate an instant version.

Knorr Japan has a creamy ginger potage which we tried and when I looked at the ingredients, I thought, "I could make this".

The weather is starting to slowly warm up during the daytime, but the nights are still cold, so I wanted to try making this soup before the weather totally warms up.

The potatoes really help thicken up the soup.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try:
Kat's ginger potato soup :serves about 4

1 tablespoon canola oil
3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 can of SPAM, chopped
1/3 carrot, chopped
1 nub (about 1/4 inch thick) ginger, chopped small
1.5 cups water
1 consomme cube
1 small bunch of spinach, cleaned and chopped
2 cups skim milk
grinds of pepper, to taste

Saute the onions, spam, carrot and potato in oil until onions are transparent
Add ginger, water and consomme
Cook on high for 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft
Turn heat down to simmer and add spinach and milk
Cook on low for another 3 minutes, just to wilt spinach and heat milk.
Turn off heat.
Add pepper and whizz with immersion blender.
When serving add another couple grinds of pepper.

NOTES: I had some SPAM leftover so I used it in this recipe. If you don't like SPAM, I think bacon would also be nice in this soup. The original soup doesn't have spinach in it, but I had some and wanted to use it.

The original also had some cheese in it, but I didn't put any in it, though if you want a richer soup, adding some cheese or even some cream would be good choices.

Be sure to whizz your soup well, you wouldn't want to bite into ginger. If you want to strain this soup, you could, but I didn't, wanting to eat all the fiber and nutrients. This soup is spicy and will definitely warm you up. This is a keeper for winter.

I'm sending this to Deb for her Souper Sundays, a great array of soups, salads & sammies.

UPDATE: this soup is delicious served cold too, like vichyssoise.