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Potato Soup
When the north winds blow....or not. It’s still tasty. This was an experimental recipe incorporating ideas from three separate recipes. Turned out really well. It’s one of the lad’s favorite dishes now. Mine, too, for that matter. It is most likely not heart friendly, but once in a while, y’know. I’ve been meaning to post this since Christmas....
Ingredients:
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups potato water
1/4 cup bacon fat
2 stalks of celery, quartered
3 large leeks, sliced
handful of small white boiling onions, peeled and left whole
8 slices of bacon, crumbled
8 small potatoes, quartered
6 medium potatoes, cubed
3 tablespoons of butter
shredded cheddar cheese
parsley
cracked pepper to taste
Peel your potatoes and cut up per instructions above. In a stock pot, cover the 8 quartered potatoes with water and boil until crisp tender. Pour off potato water and reserve 1 1/2 cups. Mash potatoes lightly.
In a pan, cook bacon until easily crumbled. Remove bacon and stir fry sliced leeks in bacon fat until translucent. Along with 1/4 cup of the bacon fat, toss the leeks into the stock pot containing the lightly mashed potatoes.
Pour in 3 cups of chicken stock, 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of heavy cream, and 1 1/2 cups of potato water. Stir and bring to a simmer. Add 3 tablespoons of butter, the remaining cubed potatoes, peeled boiling onions, and quartered stalks of celery. Add celery leaves if you have any. Add cracked pepper according to taste (I used about 1 1/2 teaspoons).
Let simmer *gently* until the cubed potatoes are tender. The soup will thicken as it cooks. Stir occasionally and don’t let it boil.
Serve in deep bowls and sprinkle top with crumbled bacon and shredded cheddar cheese. Add chopped parsley, if desired.
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I cook mine on top of the wood stove and it takes about 3 hours to gently cook. It would probably cook a little faster on top of the kitchen stove. Just make sure it doesn’t more than gently simmer (barely bubbling). The longer it takes to cook, the more flavorful it is. In fact, this soup actually tastes even better the second day.
Sounds yummy! I love potato soup.
A tip on the cooking of the bacon if I might.
Cook the bacon in the oven. 400 degrees for twenty minutes or so. You cook it on a baking sheet with cooling racks. So much less mess and healthier too. (it doesn’t sit and cook in all the fat) I will never cook it any other way since I tried it that way several years ago!
Comfort Food is what I call it!! I make potato soup at least 3-4 times a year and it is a huge favorite...when I cook a ham, I save the ham bone and make my stock from that, then dice up the leftover ham and add it to the soup pot (and some bacon too, of course). I use water as a base and 2% milk for the balance - so I kid myself into thinking it is healthier. Yeah, right!!
And, like justme, I cook bacon in the oven on racks now - have done so for many years and again, kid myself into thinking it is better!! In fact, sometimes, when I am feeling particularly energetic, I do 2-3 lbs at a time - heck, the oven has to be on for the same length of time--use racks on cookie sheets and then freeze it--layers with wax paper in between. Then if you want for BLT’s or whatever, just take what you need, nuke it and there you go.............;)
I have never cooked bacon in the oven. This sounds like a good idea. Especially the making 2-3 pounds at a time part. And it doesn’t splatter all over the inside of the oven? But, of course, I’d have to drain off the bacon fat to use for this recipe anyway. I told you, it’s not a heart friendly dish, but man it tastes good.
I love potato soup, actually soup in general. I will try your recipe. It’s very cold here right now, so I am sure it will hit the spot.
No, bake it in a slow oven, 325 and it should not splatter. I forgot to say I line the cookie sheets with foil to make the clean up a little easier. BUT I am a wasteful person so that is one thing you could eliminate.
I am also a person who decided Bailey’s was in order this evening (my mother has been living with us since December--need I say more?? LOL) and am having more than a little difficulty typing. LOL
Welcome, Carol. If you make it, I hope it turns out well for you. It surely was a hit around here. I was quite pleased.
Cyn - Well, I went to the grocery store for milk this evening. First time in I can’t remember when that I actually bought pre-storm milk. But I have this bottle of Kahlua and well..... 
I’ll try the bacon in the oven dealie. I’ll bet it cooks without shriveling up like it does in a pan, too. Or not??? I’ll have to make a lot of it to make turning on the oven worthwhile. If you were to peer in my oven right now, you’d most certainly guess that it doesn’t see a whole lot of use. I’ve stored all my bird seed in there this winter (after freezing it for 3 days to kill any of those nasty meal worms/moths). 
doesn’t curl at all, you put in a slice of bacon and actually get a slice of bacon back!! That is the best part.
I had one of those moths in the kitchen last night. I HATE them. I have no idea where that one came from, but if there is one then more will show up again. I keep the bird seed in a bin on the deck now--of course it is frozen shut and covered with snow, but.........
I love unwrinkled bacon! I gotta try this.
I haven’t had one those moths in a long time now. (Watch....tomorrow I’ll have a couple!) I think I finally beat them, though. And as long as I freeze the birdseed for three days (which seems to be one of the prime places of origination), they’ll die before they get a chance to become worms or moths. I also freeze my baking chocolate as soon as I bring it home, then store it in a glass jar. So far, so good. 