We finally got our first cold front of the autumn, which means it’s finally cool enough for soup! I decided on a Creamy Potato Bacon.
To make it:
Cut a few slices of bacon (I used about half a dozen) into little pieces (we’re essentially making bacon bits), and cook them to crispy in your pot. Once they’re nice and crispy, take them out and put them to one side, leaving the bacon grease in the pot. The bacon I was using was center cut, which means less fat, so at this point, I added about a tablespoon of butter. You may not need to.
To the bacon fat, add a small to medium chopped onion (depending on how much you like onion) and let it sweat until it goes soft and translucent, then add two or three cloves of minced or pressed garlic. After a minute or so, add about half a dozen rough chopped medium potatoes – I used gold potatoes, because they’re my favourites, and because they don’t have to be peeled. Whites and reds can also go in with their skins on, but if you’re using Idahos, you might want to peel them first. I also added about half a smallish bag of baby carrots, cut in half (they’re the reason my soup looks slightly orange).
Pour in a full quart container of chicken or vegetable stock and bring it to a simmer. Let it simmer uncovered for about twenty minutes, and then drop the temperature to medium low, put the lid on and let it cook for another 15 – 20 minutes, or until the carrots are soft enough to smash against the side of the pot.
At this point, you can just blitz it with a stick blender (or hand masher, or put it in a proper blender), or, if you want that extra yum, add about half a packet of cream cheese cut into smallish pieces so it’ll melt faster, and/or a bit of dairy. Sour cream would work well. I used heavy cream because it’s what I had in the fridge.
Once the cheese has mostly melted, blitz it. Give it a taste and add salt if needed.
Serve with a sprinkle of the reserved bacon bits, and maybe a dollop of sour cream or a sprinkle of grated cheese. Try to let it cool enough so that you don’t burn your mouth while eating it (I failed at this, but it was sooo worth it!)
A note: I chose to make this a creamy version because I plan on freezing a good portion of it, and potatoes can have a weird grainy texture when they’ve been frozen, which isn’t noticeable if they’ve been mashed or puréed. So, this can definitely be served as a chunky soup. In that case, I would suggest cooking just until fork tender, rather than until the veg are mashable against the side of the pot, so it’ll look prettier.
