I decided to try out The Pioneer Woman's Perfect Potato Soup.
Recipe :
Ingredients
- 6 slices Thin Bacon, Cut Into 1-inch Pieces
- 1 whole Medium Onion, Diced
- 3 whole Carrots, Scrubbed Clean And Diced
- 3 stalks Celery, Diced
- 6 whole Small Russet Potatoes, Peeled And Diced
- 8 cups Low Sodium Chicken Or Vegetable Broth
- 3 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
- 1 cup Milk
- ½ cups Heavy Cream
- ½ teaspoons Salt, More To Taste
- Black Pepper To Taste
- ½ teaspoons Cajun Spice Mix
- 1 teaspoon Minced Fresh Parsley
- 1 cup Grated Cheese Of Your Choice
Preparation Instructions
Add bacon pieces to a soup pot over medium heat and cook bacon until crisp and fat is rendered. Remove the bacon from the pot and set it aside. Pour off most of the grease, but do not clean the pot.
Return the hot to medium-high heat and add the onions, carrots, and celery. Stir and cook for 2 minutes or so, then add the diced potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, seasoning with salt, pepper, and Cajun spice.
Pour in the broth and bring it to a gentle boil. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are starting to get tender. Whisk together the flour and the milk, then pour into the soup and allow the soup to cook for another 5 minutes.
Remove half to 2/3 the soup and blend in a blender/food process until completely smooth. Pour it back into the soup pot and stir to combine. Let it heat back up as you taste for seasonings, adding more of what it needs. Stir in cream, then stir in parsley, reserving a little for garnish.
Serve in bowls garnished with parsley, grated cheese and crisp bacon pieces.
Now here is my experience making the potato soup.
So here I am cooking the bacon pieces. I used 5 thick slices of bacon. (I need to buy a dutch oven, you'll see why later).
Here are my bacon bits, I used a tea cup to hold the bacon drippings.
I chopped/diced up my bacon, onion, celery, and carrots before hand. (I need to buy a big cutting board I know.)
Here are the onions, carrots, celery, and some bacon drippings that I started cooking.
Here I am dicing up the potatoes while the veggies cooked. It took me longer than 2 mins to dice the potatoes up, so I lowered the heat on the veggies.
Okay, so now everything is together.....stir stir stir...
Mmmm looking good...still stirring.
OH NO!!! Unfortunately I lost quite a few onions while I allowed the veggies to cook. **sad face**
This is why I need a dutch oven.
I added salt, pepper, and cajun. Note * : The recipe only calls for the salt and pepper but I was being a rebel.
After that cooked for about 5mins I added my chicken broth...and I didn't have a full 6 cups so I added water to the mixture.
Here is the gentle boil with the veggies, spices, and chicken broth. It took a good deal of time for it to get this way. So I took the liberty to clean up the house. **Ladies, don't be afraid to do some chores while you wait for a pot to boil**. ;) That just means more time to eat this loveliness once its done.
Okay so while I waited for it to boil I decided to whisk together the milk, heavy cream, and flour.
**Note** I once again rebelled and didn't wait to put the heavy cream in later like the recipe calls for. Oh well. :)
So here is my veggie/chicken brother mixture with the milk/flour mixture.
Mmmmm....ALMOST there.
I do not own a glass measuring pitcher so I used my Korean Starbucks mug. WHAT UP S. Korea?! I scooped out about 1/2 of the soup into the blender.
Blending Blending Blending.....
And more blending.....
Okay so here is the soup that was processed added to the rest of the soup. It is a bit more orange in color due to the carrots. Just make sure to stir well after adding it.
I did not have the luxury of having freshly chopped parsley. Oh well.
I put it on low, and stirred for a little bit.
Mmmmmm......its hot and ready to eat.
Here is a better picture.
VOILA........Here is the finished product with a bit of bacon bits on top. I did not add grated cheese because I was just to hungry to care. :)
