Roasted Potato, Country Bacon and Chedder Cheese Soup
October 26, 2011 by: Alex
Who wants soup? You’ll be smackin yo mama upside the head to get to this bowl. I started on this recipe a couple years back, and went all over the place with it before returning back to a simplistic recipe. I tried heavy cream, sour cream, butter, buttermilk – they all tasted good. But I wanted good tasting and I made it low fat too! Woo hoo! Well, except for the bacon.
I’ve incorporated the bacon and cheddar from a local kentucky company, Browning’s Country Ham. I can honestly say I’ve never had a locally made cheese before. There is no comparison. Best. Cheese. Ever. And what Man Cave blogger or reader here doesn’t like bacon? Mmmmmmmmm.
Serves 4. Cuz it’s so good you can’t get 6 servings out of it.
Prep time – about 30 min. What you’ll need:
- 6-8 medium sized potatoes, russet.
- 1/4 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 3+ cups of milk, skim
- 3+ cups of water
- 2 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
- vegetable oil (to coat the roasted potatoes)
- 1/4 cup white onion, diced
- 2 tablespoon margarine
- 3 chicken bouillon cubes
- Cheddar cheese
- BACON – 5 strips
- Parsley – very small amount
- salt and pepper to taste
Peel all the potatoes and cube them, but keep 3 of the potatoes to the side. These will be used for mashing. You’ll want to work on these first. Get a pot of water going and boil the cubed potatoes (3 spuds worth) and mash with skim milk only.
Dice the rest of them and cooking methods will vary on how you want to make the roasted potatoes. I coat the potatoes in vegetable oil (yes, olive oil will work too – but not for crisping) and then microwave them for about 5-6 minutes, until they are done. Save these off to the side once they are done cooking, you want to pay attention to the broiler.
While the spuds are cooking, heat up a skillet and melt the margarine on low heat. Add 1/4 cup diced onion to soften. Let the onions cook for about 3 minutes. Add 1 cup water and 1 cup milk and stir. Add in 3 bouillon cubes, parmesean cheese and garlic, stir. Simmer this until the 3 spuds for mashing is done. Add the 3 spud mash and basil and stir, simmer for about 3 minutes.
Take half of the mixture and put into a blender. Puree until smooth, and add back into soup. This will thicken it without adding heavy creams. At this point, you will want to add more skim milk and water to thin the soup to your liking.
Fry up 5 pieces of Applewood Smoked Bacon, dice and mix into soup. Prepare the broiler! Low heat is fine. Shake the remaining (about 5 spuds worth) of cubes in olive oil or vegetable oil. Place on a cookie sheet and broil until crispy, turn often. When they’re done, pop them into the soup and slowly stir. Put some fresh grated cheddar cheese on top with some fresh parsely and there you have it!
Tips:
- The potatoes should go in last to retain that crispy texture.
- I love thick and hearty soups. Add more milk to thin – the longer you simmer the thicker it gets.
- Cube the potatoes small so it’s easier to eat for kids!
- I secretly added about 3 tablespoons of the bacon grease to my soup mix, I hope Chef Cavan isn’t allergic.
- If Chef Brian asks you if you would like to take something home with you, don’t expect much. He gave me about 1/4 cup of his 2 gallons of gumbo last week.
