One of Rockford’s favorite stories to tell is the sad tale of the first time I tried to make potato soup. Until today, it was the only time I’d tried to make potato soup. It was that bad.

We’d just moved to Missouri. Rockford was a graduate student, and I hadn’t yet found a job. Thus, we were very, very broke. It was dinnertime. I surveyed the larder and decided that we had what we needed for potato soup, and that was about it. I’d never made potato soup before, but I figured, “How hard can it be?” I didn’t write down the recipe (for obvious reasons), but here’s a rough approximation of the how-to:

Peppery Potato Soup
3 cups water
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
3 tablespoons salt
4 cups black pepper

Toss everything in a pot. Bring to a boil. Simmer about 45 minutes. Serve with lots of water. Wish you had enough money to order a pizza instead. Do not attempt potato soup again for five years.

I’ve wised up a little in the last five years, and our budget has expanded enough to allow us to purchase onions and bullion cubes! And thanks to the magic of the Internet, I’m able to Google “baked potato soup” on a whim and come up with recipes like this:

Creamy Potato Soup with Chives
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion
2 tablespoons dry sherry or white wine
2 large russet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 4 cups)
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or low-fat vegetable broth
1 teaspoon table salt
ground white pepper
1 to 1 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons minced fresh chives
shredded Cheddar cheese
bacon bits

Heat butter or oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté until golden, about 5 minutes. Add sherry and potato; stir-cook until sherry evaporates, about 30 seconds.

Add stock, salt and pepper to taste to saucepan; bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer; cover and cook until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.

Ladle potato mixture into blender. Add 1 cup milk; blend until very smooth. Return soup to saucepan; cook over low heat until warmed through. If soup is too thick, stir in additional milk to thin consistency. Adjust seasonings. (Soup can be refrigerated for 3 days and reheated just before serving.)

Ladle soup into individual bowls. Garnish with minced chives, cheese and bacon and serve immediately.

from Cook’s Illustrated

It’s really, really good. Maybe now Rockford will stop telling the Pepper Soup story. Or at the very least, maybe he’ll give it a happy ending.

I mixed up a whole batch of the topping and only made two apples. I do have one apple left, though, so I might be having a delicious baked apple for lunch today. I’ll still have some leftover. I think I’ll toss it in the freezer.

Alton Brown’s Baked Apples
3/4 cup oats
3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch kosher salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, diced
4 Braeburn apples (Fuji will substitute)
4 teaspoons honey

In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients and diced butter. Rub mixture briskly between finger tips until it forms small moist clumps in a loose sandy mixture. Refrigerate while preparing the apples.

Cut a small layer off the bottom of each apple to create a flat, stable bottom surface. With a small paring knife, cut a cylindrical cone out of the top of the apple, moving about 1-inch outside of the core, similar to removing the top of a pumpkin when carving a Jack O’Lantern. Remove the top and discard. With a melon baller or a teaspoon, remove the remaining core and seeds taking care not to puncture the base of the apple.

Place apples on a baking sheet or pie dish and fill each center with a teaspoon of honey. Spoon in mixture, packing lightly until heaped and overflowing over sides of the apples.

Bake in oven at 350 degrees on the top or middle rack for 40 minutes or until filling is golden brown and the tip of a paring knife can be inserted into the side of the apple with little or no resistance. Let apples stand for 10 minutes before serving.