Saturday, June 7, 2014

My Ultimate Comfort Food Potato Soup

I have decided that homemade potato soup is my ultimate comfort food. Now, there are rivals, Grandma Allen's Potato Salad with its secret to creaminess, unwhipped whip cream or a BLT with thick, medium cooked bacon, thick slices of on-the-vine or out of the garden tomato and crisp Iceberg lettuce on toasted white bread slathered with butter and  Best Food Mayonnaise (It's gotta be Best Foods called Hellman's back east).

My potato soup has to be the best I've tasted, even in restaurants where I would always order at least a cup if it was on the menu. I'm super fond of potatoes in general. Maybe it was the influence of my father's very good luck with potatoes each year in his garden. My love of vegetables, in general was, I'm sure, formed by my parent's enthusiasm and love of all things vegetable shared in an earlier blog post titled, Raised Green. My goodness, I had a grandfather who planted and harvested a city block-sized garden ripe with every imaginable vegetable from beets with their requisite greens (which Grandma loved with a little vinegar) to rutabagas.

Throughout life I've wavered when asked to be definitive about a favorite or best anything. When we are younger we have so much yet to discover. My lifelong fondness of potato soup, though, just grew stronger over time. Now that I am finding pleasure in cooking, I have the freedom to refine it to my taste. I can make it the way I truly like it and recreate it whenever I'm so inclined.

I was so inclined this afternoon even on this wam sunny day. I had the potatoes, chicken broth, bacon and onion. On the way home from errands I snagged the needed celery and Half and Half. On went the bacon to cook (to medium not crispy) in my favorite pan, a stainless steel Faberware electric frying pan that a friend suggested as the best (I was fed up with the coated light weight ones and she'd used one in Alaska when she cooked on a fishing boat and actually found one for me in a thrift store. When the bacon strips were draining on paper towels, into the bacon grease (with a little bacon grease added) went a large onion, chopped, and two stalks of celery thinly sliced. I browned them slowly and when they were soft I removed them and added a can of chicken broth and 1/2 can of water. After deglazing the pan, I added five medium Russet potatoes that I had peeled and cut into 1" chunks. I slowly simmered the potatoes in the broth until soft but still intact. I added the onion, celery and bacon strips (now chopped into small pieces). To my simmering potatoes and goodies I added two cups of Half and Half and 5 shakes of Johnny's Seasoning Salt. I thickened it with 3 Tablespoons of flour with some of the soup liquid blended in my Magic Bullet blender. It simmered until thickened and heated through.

Without bragging, my Ultimate Comfort Food Potato Soup is so delicious that I can eat the whole batch by myself. That Half and Half might not be the healthiest but hey it's vegetables!

My Ultimate Comfort Food Potato Soup

Ingredients:
5 medium Russet potatoes
1 large onion white or yellow (I used a sweet onion)
2 stalks of celery
4 strips of thick bacon
1 14 1/2 oz, can chicken broth
1/2 broth can water
1 pint Half and Half
5 shakes of Johnny's Seasoning Salt (or your favorite)

Instructions:
Peel and chop the potatoes into 1" chunks and place in a bowl of water to cover. Chop the onion and celery and set aside. Fry the bacon and drain on paper towels, when cool chop in small pieces. Add the onions and celery to the bacon grease, adding more bacon grease if needed (I keep some in the freezer). When onion and celery are soft, remove, add the chopped bacon to them and set aside. Deglaze the pan with the chicken broth and water and add the potatoes, simmering until the potatoes are soft yet intact. Add the onions, celery, bacon, Half and Half and Seasoning Salt. Turn onto a low simmer. Blend well 3 Tablespoons flour with some of the broth to make a thickener. Add to simmering soup. When soup is thickened, enjoy.

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