Perfect Potato Soup – The Pioneer Woman’s recipe.  My changes are noted in red below.  I LOVED it. It was a bit different than how I normally make mine.  This one (with my changes) is better than the old recipe I have. I highly recommend this recipe.  Good comfort food on a cold night….

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Perfect Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 6 slices Thin Bacon, Cut Into 1-inch Pieces  use good grade bacon-makes the difference
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Diced – I used a yellow onion, a little larger
• 3 whole Carrots, Scrubbed Clean And Diced – I opted out of carrots
• 3 stalks Celery, Diced – I used one stalk
  
• 6 whole Small Russet Potatoes, Peeled And Diced – I used a mix of red and russet (10)
• 8 cups Low Sodium Chicken Or Vegetable Broth – two boxes chicken broth
• 3 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
• 1 cup Milk
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream – I did not use heavy cream
  
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt, More To Taste
• Black Pepper To Taste
• 1/2 teaspoon Cajun Spice Mix
• 1 teaspoon Minced Fresh Parsley – opted out
  
• 1 cup Grated Cheese Of Your Choice – velveta shred and parm shred. Parm was amazing on it.

Preparation

Add bacon pieces to a soup pot over medium heat and cook bacon until crisp and fat is rendered. Remove the bacon from the pot and set it aside. Pour off most of the grease (I left all of it), but do not clean the pot. Return the hot to medium-high heat and add the onions, carrots, and celery. Stir and cook for 2 minutes or so, then add the diced potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, seasoning with salt, pepper, and Cajun spice. (Next time I will make sure to cut up the taters BEFORE I start…)

Pour in the broth and bring it to a gentle boil. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are starting to get tender. Whisk together the flour and the milk, then pour into the soup and allow the soup to cook for another 5 minutes.

Remove half to 2/3 the soup and blend in batches in a blender/food process until completely smooth. (I took out maybe six ladles of potatoes with some broth, I used a tater masher and mashed them – I like my soup to have substance and be more than broth) (***USE CAUTION WHEN BLENDING HOT SOUP; IF POSSIBLE, ALLOW THE SOUP TO COOL BEFORE BLENDING***) Pour it back into the soup pot and stir to combine. Let it heat back up as you taste for seasonings, adding more of what it needs. Stir in cream, then stir in parsley, reserving a little for garnish.

Serve in bowls garnished with parsley, grated cheese and crisp bacon pieces.

Three of us had two bowls each. It left over two bowls for lunch tomorrow (one of those bowls being a larger bowl).  AMAZING – LOVED IT – DEF SHOULD TRY