Cooper's Super Soup

Bringing you something special today – a guest recipe post! We definitely recognize excellent food when we taste it and when our friend Cooper said he would share his recipe with us, we’re certainly weren’t going to pass up the chance. If you love creamy, tasty, bit of comfort for your tummy soup, then you need to whip this up right away!  And now we present...

Cooper’s Creamy Potato Soup

6-10 servings
prep time: 30-45m
cook time: 30-45m (can be done in < 20m though)

Ingredients

4-6 slices bacon
4 cups chicken stock
2-3 large (or 8-10 small) potatoes, chopped into bite-sized cubes (1/2-1 inch cubes)
1 stick butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small onion (or shallot), diced
1 small celery stalk, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 cups half and half, heated
Spinach (optional)
Salt and black pepper to taste
1-2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

Cook bacon to desired crispiness (I don't like it too crispy for the soup). Make sure to save the bacon grease! You're going to use it!

While cooking bacon, bring chicken stock to a boil in a 2 qt saucepan.

Add potatoes to the stock, and cook until slightly less than desired softness (they are going to continue to cook later, so I shoot for about potato salad doneness).

About halfway through boiling the potatoes combine the bacon grease and butter in a large stockpot. I don't use the whole stick of butter, just enough to have about 1/2 cup total grease/butter mixture. Toss in the garlic, onion, celery, and carrots and cook until slightly softened (2-5 min). Add the flour to the mixture to make a roux, make sure to stir constantly to avoid clumps or burning. Once the roux is a nice golden-brown color, slowly add the potato/stock mixture, briskly whisking to avoid clumping.

For those unfamiliar with the term, roux is a mixture containing equal parts of flour and fat used to thicken liquids; it's cooked to varying degrees (white, pale/blond, or brown) depending on how it's being used.

Now, add the warmed (preferably near boiling) half and half to the mixture, stirring all the while. Break up the cooked bacon and toss it in. Thoroughly wash spinach and tear (or cut) into small pieces, and toss into the soup. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

At this point, you *can* serve the soup, but I like to leave it on low heat for 30m or so, stirring every few minutes, to let the flavors blend a bit better and let the spinach cook. A few minutes before serving, add cheese to the soup, and stir in until melted.

When serving, top with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese, some crumpled bacon, chives, sour cream, butter, or anything else your heart desires!

Cooper’s Note: Timing is EVERYTHING when starting the soup! You don't want overcook the potatoes, nor do you want to burn the roux. So, if you're unsure on the timing (or would like a less starchy soup), boil potatoes in lightly salted water until cooked to desired softness, strain, and set aside until after the chicken stock has been added.

k2’s Note: Cooper, k2 and k2’s friend Linda started a Soup Exchange at work. Each week one of the three makes a big pot of something soupy at home and then brings in a pint size container of it for each of the others. It’s a fun way to try out new soups and nice not to have to cook at least once a week. Now, if we can only convince Cooper that he’s never made this before when his turn comes up again, we’ll be in business.

A special shout-out to Soup Boy for sharing his culinary talents and letting us pass them along in his words to our followers!