Loaded Potato Soup

I don’t care if it was 86° out, today, it’s the middle of October and I wanted soup.  Loaded potato soup, specifically.  Just in case you need a recipe, here’s how I made it this time.

Gather up:

4 medium-biggish russet potatoes, like you’d bake, peeled and cut into wee cubes.

Some thick cut bacon - however much you want.  I used Wright brand applewood smoked, 7 strips, cut up.

Broccoli.  I used a couple of smallish…er…what’s a broccoli thing?  Cluster?  Bunch?  A tickle?  Anyway, however much you want.  I really trim off the stem and cut the florets small.

A box of chicken bone broth.

Heavy whipping cream.

A package of shredded cheese - I used Tillamook triple cheddar. 

Butter.

A biggish pot for soupy shenanigans.

Aaaaaand…go!

Steam the broccoli until just done, or maybe not quite done.  Drain and set aside.

Fry the cut up bacon until it’s nice and crispy.  Scoop into a paper towel lined bowl.  Defend from cats and kids.

Now you have a choice - fry the potatoes in the bacon grease, or use a different pot/pan and cook them in butter for a minute.  You want them not-quite-cooked.

Pour in the bone broth.  Bring to a simmer, cook until the tiny taties are tender.

Scoop about half of the wee cubes out and put about half of the broccoli in.  Simmer another few minutes, then turn down the heat, add a goodly blorp of heavy cream, and hit it with the immersion blender your friend Angie gave you for Yule that one time.  Really blend it up.  

Still blending, add the cheese a handful at a time.  Make sure you get it emulsified or it’ll sink to the bottom of the pot in a fit of despair and huddle there in sad little clumps of unfortunate texture that are really not fun to clean out when the soup is all gone.

Season to taste - I wait until after the cheese because it can get pretty salty about its fate.

Add the remaining cooked broccoli and potatoes, and the bacon.  Stir and nom.  Or don’t…but if you weren’t going to eat it, why on earth did we just go through all that?

This makes a pretty big pot of soup, but it also freezes beautifully.