Chicken and Potato Soup with Bacon

131. For Christmas this year my family added to my kitchen cookbook collection by giving me a wonderful soup cookbook. It is from (Parragon Publishing,

ISBN 9781407581156)

And, a beautiful stand for my cookbooks.

In my soup cookbook was a yummy recipe for "Chicken & Potato Soup with Bacon".

The recipe called for onion and garlic to be sauteed in butter and then add the bacon. I decided this would make the soup very high in fat and cause an oily consistency. So I sauteed the bacon separately and drained it well. I crumbled the bacon and placed it in a serving bowl to sprinkle on top of the soup.

"Chicken & Potato Soup with Bacon"

1 tablespoons butter

1 medium onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, chopped

9 oz. smoked lean bacon, chopped

2 large leeks, sliced

(I added a stalk of celery also)

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 cups chicken stock

1 lb 12 oz potatoes, cubed

7 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped

4 tablespoons heavy cream :(I used milk)

salt and pepper

cooked crumbled bacon and sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley for garnish

Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, until slightly softened. Add the chopped bacon and leeks and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring. ( I did not add the bacon at this point)

In a bowl, mix the flour with enough stock to make a smooth paste and stir it into the pan. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Pour in the remaining stock, then add the potatoes and chicken.

Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes, until the chicken and potatoes are tender and cooked through.

Stir in the cream and cook for another 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and ladle into serving bowls. Garnish with the cooked bacon and flat-leaf parsley and serve immediately.

I also made a batch of biscuits and cut them into star shapes.

What a delicious soup...and you can cut down on fat and calories just by substituting a few ingredients.

Soup is a lot like a family. Each ingredient enhances the others;

each batch has its own characteristics;

and it needs time to simmer to reach full flavor.

~ M. Kennedy