It has been week/month/year (or more) for a lot of people. Folks are dealing with all sorts of things. Does anyone else remember that “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” commercial from the ’70s. Rather than buying the world a Coke, my choice would be to make everyone soup. With apologies to my friends who don’t eat treif – although I figure it doesn’t matter in virtual soup – here is some Sunday comfort food.
A lot of what I cook is inspired by the ingredients that need to be used. It happened that the potatoes were starting to show some sprouts, and there are always onions around.
There was also bacon in the freezer, and considering that I prefer to dice bacon when it is frozen, potato bacon soup was the obvious choice. Yes, you will be keeping all the bacon fat in this soup, but at least there is no other fat, or that’s what I tell myself when I justify making this. I forget where I first learned the trick of starting to render bacon in a little water. That allows some of that fat to release from the bacon before it starts to crisp, which helps prevent burning. Otherwise, instructions for rendering bacon fat include starting with fat in the pan, which seems excessive. You want to do a fine dice on the bacon, then get it nice and crispy, and take the pieces out of the fat with a slotted spoon.
Please do not judge that the pot is badly stained. Le Creuset sells a product that you can use to keep the insides of your pots that lovely cream color they are when they come from the factory. I own that cleaning product. I used it once then determined that I would spend half my life getting the stains out of my pots. I can live with the stains. After you’ve removed the bacon from the fat, add chopped onion and cook until translucent. I don’t worry about being perfectly uniform with the onion because the soup will be pureed.
If you like pureed soups and do not have an immersion blender, I highly recommend getting one. I had far to many near disasters using a regular blender with hot soup before I got the immersion blender. Also, the immersion blender is so much easier to clean that the thought of pureeing the soup is much less daunting.
Comfort Food – Potato Bacon Soup
Course: SoupsIngredients
6 oz bacon, finely diced
2 medium onions, chopped (roughly 2 cups)
2 1/2 pounds gold potatoes, chopped
1 quart chicken stock
1 bay leaf
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- In stock pot or Dutch oven, add a few tablespoons of water to bacon and cook over medium heat until water has evaporated. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until fat has rendered and bacon is crispy. Remove bacon pieces with slotted spoon and set aside for serving.
- Add chopped onions to the bacon fat, increase heat to medium, and cook until onions are translucent, being careful not to brown them.
- Add potatoes, chicken stock, and bay leave. Bring to a simmer, and simmer for 25-30 minutes until potatoes are tender.
- Remove from heat and remove bay leaf.
- Puree using immersion blender.
- Serve hot, topped with freshly ground black pepper and the crispy bacon pieces.
Hoping that this virtual soup brought a little stress relief or at least a smile to your day.