In honor of St. Patricks Day, I took an old Irish recipe for potato soup and came up with something you would probably find in the American Southwest, not Ireland or at any local Irish pub. It’s called St. Patty’s Spicy Potato Soup.

Traditionally, Irish Potato Soup is made with Irish butter, milk, russet potatoes, celery, dried parsley, onion, garlic, chicken bouillon and grated cheese. This all sounds very creamy and comforting, however I try my best to stay away from dairy with my original recipes and even in my choices in dining out.

In place of the butter and milk, I used virgin coconut oil to sautee the vegetables. By blending the soup the texture becomes silky and creamy on it’s own without the help of dairy. I replaced the dried parsley with fresh thyme and the chicken bouillon with organic vegetable broth, substituted grated cheese with soy-based cheddar-flavored veggie cheese, and added fresh radicchio for some crunch. A shallot was also included, along with half of a large yellow onion.

The spice is from half an orange habanero chili. Ron and I have used this chili pepper before. I knew it was really intense with heat, but I did not anticipate just how much heat the soup would inherit from leaving half of a whole pepper (seeds removed) while it was cooking. If you make this recipe at home and are sensitive to spice, I would leave it out or replace it with a less spicy pepper such as a jalepeno. An alternative would be adding only one-fourth of the orange habanero instead of half to the soup while cooking to release the oils.

Ingredients:

• 3 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 half large yellow onion, coarsely chopped
• 4 sprigs of thyme, stems removed and chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 heaping tablespoon of virgin coconut oil
• 32 ounces of organic vegetable broth
• 1 habanero orange devil pepper, halved and seeds removed; do not chop
• salt and pepper

Wash and prep all the ingredients.

In a large heavy bottom pot over medium heat, add one heaping tablespoon of virgin coconut oil. When the oil is hot, add the chopped onion and shallot plus salt. Cook for about six minutes until the onion and shallot are soft.

Next, add in the celery and garlic. Cook for about four minutes until the celery is softened.

Add in the potatoes and thyme, plus salt and pepper. Stir all the ingredients in the pot together, let cook for about five minutes.

Next add in the organic vegetable broth plus half of the orange habanero pepper, which is optional, if you really want to go Southwest with this Irish classic. Turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil, uncovered. Once it comes to a boil, turn the heat to low and let it cook for 20 minutes until the potatoes are soft. Keep the pot uncovered at this time.

Once the potatoes are soft, remove the pot from the heat and discard the habanero pepper. Let it cool for about 15-20 minutes before pureeing in a blender.

Put the pureed soup in a large bowl. Place a couple large ladles of the soup in small serving bowl and add sliced radicchio and cheddar flavored veggie shreds (or real cheddar is you prefer). Enjoy immediately!

If you have leftovers, add more broth when you heat it up, as this soup tends to thicken in the refrigerator. If you do not have broth, add milk (if you prefer dairy) or water.

We love to hear your twists on classic recipes. Feel free to share them, and perhaps we’ll write them up for our readers, giving you full credit, of course! Bon appétit.