Guest Author - Launa Stout
Our family potato history:
My daughter went to college in Idaho and had a short opportunity to help with the potato harvest- her job was sitting and watching a conveyor belt go by with lots of potatoes. She was supposed to pull off the belt the ones that were not perfect. Watching the conveyor belt made her a little dizzy so she didn’t stick with that job too long.
My sister’s family lives in Idaho. One year we went to visit them during the Christmas holidays. Since we would be in town they asked if they could send our Christmas gift home with us - it would have been too big to mail. We were curious!
It was two, big 100 pound bags of potatoes! Really big, and really good potatoes!
Needless to say we needed a lot of potato recipes that winter.
This was a favorite for a yummy baked potato soup, I think you will enjoy it.
Ingredients:
• 5 ˝ cups chicken broth
• 3 pounds of potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4 slices of bacon
• 1 Tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• Salt and pepper – to taste
• ˝ cup half-in-half or milk
• Grated cheese
• Chopped green onions or chives
Directions:
1. In a large stock pot combine the broth and potatoes.
2. Boil the potatoes until they are almost tender, but still hold their shape, usually about 10 minutes.
3. Take the pot off the stove, drain the potatoes, but save the liquid.
4. Cook the bacon in the large pot until it is crisp.
5. Take it out of the pot and crumble the bacon.
6. Drain most of the fat drippings, but leave about 1 Tablespoon in the pot.
7. Now melt the butter in that same pot.
8. Stir in the onions and garlic and sauté them.
9. Add the flour and stir with a whisk for about 2 minutes. (I really like a flat whisk for this step)
10. Gradually add in 1 cup of the liquid from cooking the potatoes.
11. Season with salt a pepper.
12. Gently stir the onion mixture and then carefully add the potatoes – but be careful not to break up the potatoes.
13. Add the half-and-half and simmer until the soup is slightly thickened- about 10 minutes.
Serve into soup mugs and garnish as per individual choices;
• Crumbled bacon
• Grated cheese
• Green onions
• Chopped chives
