Potato Soup

By Roger829

Ingredients

• russet potato 5-6 large peeled and diced
• chicken stock 2 large cans
• smoked bacon 1/4-1/2 pound
• onion 1 medium diced
• celery 3-4 stalk diced
• baby carrots 1 small bag thick sliced
• ham 1 pound package diced
• olive oil 3 tablespoons
• parsley 1/4-1/2 cup fresh, chopped
• pepper to taste
• heavy cream 1 quart
• cornstarch
• water very cold

Preparation

Step 1

In a large pot, place potato, ham, and chicken stock
Cook on medium heat
In a large skillet fry bacon until crisp, when crisp remove bacon, save bacon grease
Add bacon grease to soup pot with potatoes
In same skillet over medium ad a little olive oil, cook onions, celery, and carrots until almost cook through
Once potato start to boil, reduce heat to a high simmer
Crumble bacon and add to pot
When potatoes are almost done, using a potato masher, mash a few potatoes, this will give the soup a natural thickening agent
Add cooked vegetables, parsley and pepper to taste
When potatoes are done turn heat to low
Add heavy cream to soup, keep stirring as you add the cream to keep it from curdling
Bring soup up to a boil

In a glass bowl combine 4 tablespoons of cornstarch, and 4 tablespoons on very cold water, mix well
Add to soup to thicken.
Add more cornstarch mixture if necessary
The trick to a thick soup, is the cornstarch and the use of very cold water add to a boiling soup

A variation could be to add broccoli and call it Cream of Potato and Broccoli soup

Add clams to potato soup for Clam Chowder