MONDAY RECIPE POST - CREAM POTATO SOUP

This soup is now a favorite of ours thanks to Serene at House of Yum.  You can see her original recipe here.  She has all kinds of recipes I am going to try, and her photos alone make me want to head to the kitchen.  This is also a fast soup and you can have it on the table within the hour.  (I add that because it always takes me longer to  prepare ingredients than the time allotted. You may get it all done a lot sooner than I did, and I will add Serene's preparation time below.)

Creamy Potato Soup 

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Total time: 45 minutes

Yield: 6

6 slices of bacon, chopped

1 small yellow onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

4 cups of chicken broth (unsalted)

1 cup of milk (your choice - I used 2%)

1 cup of half and half (or if you want to go lighter I expect you can use an equal amount of your choice of milk.  I stuck with the half and half.)

3 pounds of potatoes, peeled and diced to 1 inch cubes (use waxy potatoes like Gold Potatoes)

1-1/2 teaspoons of salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/3 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar Cheese

Optional toppings:

Diced green onion

Diced bacon

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Sour Cream

Add the bacon to a large Dutch oven or pot, and cook over medium high heat until the bacon is crispy. Leaving the grease in the pot, remove the bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel.  Set aside.  

Add the diced onion and cook until softened and translucent.  Add the minced garlic and for an additional 30 seconds or until fragrant.

Stir in the flour until a paste forms and allow this to cook for about 2 to 3 minutes, until a light golden color.  This cooks the flour.

Pour in the chicken stock, milk and cream.  Add the diced potatoes, salt and pepper.  Stir to combine.

Bring the pot to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are softened and easy to mash (this took us about 20-25 minutes).

Turn the heat off and using an immersion blender, blend the soup until most of the potatoes are mixed in and the soup is creamy.  (If you don't have an immersion blender then carefully pour portions of the soup into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth, returning the soup back to the pot. If you don't have any of these I would get a potato masher and gently mash the potatoes. We left some of the cubed potatoes for more texture in the soup.)

With the heat still off, stir in the sour cream and shredded cheese.  Return the bacon to the soup.  Stir to combine.

Serve warm with any additional toppings of your choice.

This makes 6 servings 
1 serving = 195 calories.

Definitely a  keeper.  I'm happy to say we  have leftovers, and we will be enjoying them for lunch tomorrow.  We used all the toppings suggested, plus the sour cream which we added after these photos. 

We also added a croissant on the side.  You don't really need anything though, it stands on its own. 

(If you are looking for something non-dairy, Serene has another Potato Soup we will be trying sometime.  It can be found here.)