Recipe for Potato Peel Soup with Walnuts and Croutons

Potato peels are a very good source of vitamins and minerals, so don't throw those peels away.  Try this tasty and healthy potato peel soup with walnuts and croutons, using freshly cut potato peelings.

Ingredients for Potato Peel Soup  

• Peelings from 900 grams (2lbs) of potatoes
• One chopped onion
• 4 tablespoons of butter
• 1 beef stock cube
• Single cream or alternatively a mixed blend of milk and sour cream
• Chopped chives
• Parsley
• Croutons
• Chopped walnuts

The best peels to use are from red potatoes. 

Wash the potatoes thoroughly and peel so that your peelings are about a half a centimetre or quarter of an inch thick. 

Remember to remove any sprouts and totally cut out the eyes and any green parts from the potatoes first, as these bits of our otherwise friendly spuds are poisonous.  

Place your potato peels, onions, and butter in a cooking pan with 800 millilitres (4 cups) of water, and bring to the boil  Add a beef stock cube and simmer until both the potato peels and the onions become tender.  

Then use an immersion blender on a high speed setting to break up the potato peels and onions. Be careful when doing this as the water will be hot, so you want to avoid splashing yourself as you blend.  You may want to try starting on a lower speed with your immersion blender before working up to higher speed. 

Add single cream.  As an alternative to the single cream you can make a blend of milk and sour cream, and add this instead.  Next, add a mashed potato to thicken the soup.  Stir it all together, then serve topped with chopped chives and parsley.  Add croutons and chopped walnuts to taste.