Lately, I’ve been tending towards comfort foods when I think about dinner. Luckily for me, I’ve had more time to cook these last few weeks than I’ve had in a long time. And that’s all part of having redirected myself a little, quit the full-time job, and started working free-lance again. But that’s a story for another time.
This past Sunday I had a craving for soup. Now, if you’ve spent a lot of time here, then you know that soup and I are especially close. I love it. Almost any kind.
So back to Sunday.
I wanted to make a potato soup that wasn’t full of all kinds of cream (mostly because I didn’t have much in the house) but still had that nice, rib sticking, creamy texture. So I experimented. And what I ended up with was a potato soup that was light on the cream, but heavy on the flavor and comfort and with only a few ingredients that most of us have in our house readily available. Try it for yourself, then let me know what you think.
Roxx’s Baked Potato Soup
- 6 large baking potatoes, peeled and diced
- ½ pound bacon (you could use more if you like), diced
- 1 medium red onion diced
In a pot with a heavy bottom, sauté the bacon till almost crisp, remove to paper towels to drain. In the bacon fat sauté the onion till translucent and soft, then add in the diced potatoes and continue cooking till everything starts to become golden. Season with salt and pepper, add six to eight cups of vegetable stock (chicken will work just as well). You want enough stock to cover the potatoes to a bit more than double their depth (i.e. if your potatoes and onions are about two inches deep in your pot, you want to put about five inches of stock in there). Bring to a boil then turn the heat down to medium and allow to simmer till the potatoes are cooked through. This should take about 20 – 25 minutes. With an immersion blender, run through the soup till about half the diced vegetable are pureed. You want to leave a good portion of the vegetables in dices for texture. Return the bacon to the pot, stir in 1 cup of 10% cream (optional), adjust seasonings and serve with grated cheddar as garnish.
Once you’ve dragged yourself away from this, don’t forget to write and tell me how much you enjoyed it.
This weekend is Thanksgiving up here in Canada, and by the time you read this, preparations will be under way for Thanksgiving south of the border as well. I’d like to wish a belated Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian readers and a bit of an early one to our friends south of the border. Enjoy the time with family and friends, I sure intend to. We’ll be roasting our bird on Sunday night and we’ll have lots to be thankful for.
TTFN!!!