Absolutely Ultimate Potato Soup

Here is my first recipe for the year. I like to make soup in January - even though it isn't cold here, it just seems appropriate. This soup was very delicious and I will be making it again...Bill loved it!

At the end of each recipe, I will give an overall score - judging taste, number of dishes dirtied, and time/effort spent making it. This recipe took me about 1.5 hours to complete (including all the peeling and chopping).

The required ingredients.

Peel and cube the potatoes.

Chop the celery and onion and garlic (I use pre-chopped garlic from a jar).

Fry the bacon in a large pot (we love bacon!).

Fry celery, onions, and garlic in reserved bacon grease.

Add potatoes and bacon, cover with chicken stock, and simmer.

Melt butter, whisk in flour, whisk in cream and herbs.

Add cream mixture to potato mixture. Blend half the soup (I used an immersion blender, but you could pour half the soup in a regular blender too).

Ladle delicious soup into bowls.

Garnish with crispy bacon, shredded cheese, and pepper. Enjoy!

Absolutely Ultimate Potato Soup (from allrecipes.com)

1 pound bacon, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 cups chicken stock, or enough to cover potatoes (I didn't have chicken stock, so I used chicken bouillon cubes with about 4.5 cups of water.)
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup heavy cream (I used 3/4 cup heavy cream and 1/4 cup milk)
1 teaspoon dried tarragon (I didn't have tarragon but I used thyme - I like it better)
3 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro (I didn't have fresh cilantro so I used dried)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
-In a dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until done. Remove bacon from pan, and set aside. Drain off all but 1/4 cup of the bacon grease.
-In the bacon grease remaining in the pan, saute the celery and onion until onion begins to turn clear. Add the garlic, and continue cooking for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the cubed potatoes, and toss to coat. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Return the bacon to the pan (I saved some for garnishing later), and add enough chicken stock to just cover the potatoes. Cover, and simmer until potatoes are tender (about 12 minutes for me).
-In a separate pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the heavy cream, tarragon and cilantro. Bring the cream mixture to a boil, and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Stir the cream mixture into the potato mixture. Puree about 1/2 the soup and return to the pan (I used an immersion blender and just pulsed it a few times to blend some of the soup but still leave some delicious potato chunks). Adjust seasonings to taste. (I garnished it with some crispy bacon and shredded cheese - and extra pepper!)

AND, what they don't show you on the glamorous cooking shows are all the dirty dishes. So, I thought I'd show you just how many dishes I used to make this recipe.

The dirty dishes for this potato soup.

Absolutely Ultimate Potato Soup
Taste: 5 out of 5
Dirty Dishes: 2 out of 5
Time/Effort: 2 out of 5
TOTAL: 9 out of 15