Potato Soup 2
Ingredients
- 1/4 lb bacon
- 3 T butter (unsalted)
- 1 c finely chopped onion
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 5 c chicken stock (or broth, chicken or vegetable; low-sodium)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 t Salt (Table)
- 2.5 lb potatoes (floury, like russet or King Edward; peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes)
- 1/3 c sour cream
- salt (to taste)
- freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
- Toppings, optional:
- fresh chives (minced)
- minced green onions
- bacon bits
- sour cream
- grated cheddar cheese
- butter (melted, or melted and browned)
Method
Brown the bacon; drain. Once cool, dice it and set it aside.
In a large, heavy pot or Dutch oven (recommend at least 4qt/4L capacity), melt the butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook until soft (but not brown), about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook another minute. Add stock, bay leaves, and salt. Put half the bacon in the soup; reserve the rest for topping. Bring to a simmer, then add the potatoes. Continue to simmer, partially covered, until potatoes are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Discard bay leaves.
Add sour cream to soup and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Adjust seasonings, adding more salt and pepper to taste. Using immersion blender, process soup until chunky-creamy. (Alternatively, use an old fashioned potato masher). Serve with whatever makes you happy on top, or nothing at all.
Notes
SJ Note 30 Sept 2011: This was okay, and we'll certainly eat it, but we didn't find it all that impressive. I made some modifications from how it was sent to me, notably I didn't simmer the head of garlic (with its head lopped off) in the soup for 30 to 40 minutes as it called for. I did make the garlic butter bread, by roasting the lopped-off garlic head in the oven and using that garlic pulp, but it never went into the soup. Perhaps that's where I went wrong, or perhaps we're just not big potato soup fans; we've each only ever had one other kind (Potato Soup 1), which is really different (not blended, for a start). We won't make this again, but it's not the recipe's fault; it's just not to our taste. If you do, I'd suggest doubling the bacon - and the soup definitely needs pepper.
SJ Note 23 Nov 2011: We ate the rest of this tonight, after freezing it from when we made it in September. It actually went through the freeze-thaw-reheat process surprisingly well. We added more bacon, salt, and pepper, and it was as good as it was the first time around.