Home Made Cream Of Potato Soup

Serves:

Ingredients:

1 Lg. onion, chopped coarsely
-several stalks of celery,
-chopped (I like to

Method:

use the outer stalks of the bunch for something else and then use the inner part with all the leaves in soups) A few cloves of garlic, smashed flat or minced (I wouldn't bother mincing) 6 or 8 potatoes, scrubbed, peeled (if desired) and cut into quarters Bacon (about 1/4#), diced.
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you can use the cheaper stuff in the meat market labelled as "bacon ends and pieces" because you're going to dice them anyway Home-made chicken stock or canned, or water, if you have no stock (I always stew up chicken bones with some aromatic vegetables .
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onions, garlic.
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and freeze this stock in large Dixie cups .
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like 5 or 6 ounce ones.
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and then pop them out of cups and bag them for freezing or, sometimes, in ice cube trays for when I only need a small amount.
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keep stock cubes in a bag in freezer - this way I always have the stock I need for cooking.
Salt and Freshly ground pepper to taste Milk (whole will make it creamier but I use low-fat) In soup kettle, saute diced bacon till good and brown (white fat has all turned brown and crispy).
With slotted spoon, remove bacon from pan and drain on paper towels.
Leave enough bacon grease in the pan to saute vegetables but discard the rest.
Saute onion, celery, garlic in small amount of bacon fat till soft and onion is translucent.
Add quartered potatoes and half the crispy bacon.
Add stock (or water if you really must!) up to about half the height of the contents of the pan.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Cover and simmer until potatoes are cooked but not mushy (my guess is about 10-15 minutes).
Make sure it doesn't go dry.
Add a little water if you need to to keep it from sticking.
When cooked, use an old-fashioned potato masher (the kind that is like a thick wire that ribbons back and forth.
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not the kind that mashes the potatoes to a paste) and only partly mash the potatoes and vegetables.
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leaving roughly half or 2/3 of the mixture still real "chunky" and the rest will be in smaller pieces.
Add milk to this until the consistency you like.
It won't be necessary to thicken this as the potatoes will thicken it naturally.
If you, by mistake, add too much milk so it is too thin, mash the potatoes a little more or thicken with a cornstarch/water mixture.
Correct for seasonings.
Heat gently.
Serve with reserved crisp bacon and garnish of minced green onions sprinkled over.
Shared by Allison Cozzi