I love soup! All types of soup. My soup skills are pretty solid and I can crank out a wide variety of them off the top of my head. At a certain crossroads in my life I contemplated opening a soup & salad shop at a local public market. Instead, I hung up my apron and changed career's completely. LOL.
Some key tips on good soup. Seasoning goes in and gets "sweated" before the liquid. In fact, the stock, be it actual stock, water, or some sort of cream mixture, goes in last. You cook your ingredients and seasonings BEFORE adding your liquid. Otherwise you're just boiling everything and you miss out on a ton of flavor depth.
With potato soup, cooking the potatoes in oil or butter in the bottom of the pot first gives you an added benefit. That is, the potatoes start to break down just a little before the stock is added. This will add body and richness to your soup. That is my 2 cents. I'll get off my soap (soup?) box now.
Ingredients
1 pound bacon, diced
3 onions, diced
1 bunch celery, diced
3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 quarts water
1 gallon heavy whipping cream
1 cup butter
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
18 potatoes, peeled and diced
2 (16 ounce) packages frozen corn
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 pinches red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 pinch salt and ground black pepper to taste
Directions
Place bacon in a large heavy-bottom pot and cook over medium-high heat until crispy, about 10 minutes.
Remove Bacon from pot and set aside
Add onions and celery to rendered bacon fat in the pot and stir.
Add potatoes to pot and stir.
Cook 5 minutes stirring often
Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes
Add water and heavy cream to pot
Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer
Cook and stir corn and red bell pepper together in a cast iron skillet over medium heat until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.
Mix corn mixture into soup and season with red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
Add reserved bacon back to pot
Let pot simmer for 30-45 minutes stirring regularly.
Serve and enjoy with some delicious fresh bread!
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