Potato Soup

Ridgely's Note:

This is a fabulous potato soup recipe. I have been making this for years. It is an recipe from a restaurant called The Machine Shed. I am always asked to make it by my family as well as for big gatherings. We also have it on Halloween every year before the kids go Trick-O-Treating. Our local store makes individual bread bowls that are orange and look like pumpkins. They love the soup in these festive bread bowls. It is a bit of a time consuming recipe to make, but well worth it once in awhile.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 6 -7 medium potatoes, baked, peeled & diced
• 1/2 lb raw bacon, diced
• 1 jumbo yellow onion, diced
• 1/4 bunch celery, diced
• 1 quart milk
• 1 quart water
• 2 tablespoons chicken base
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 3/4 cup margarine (about)
• 3/4 cup flour (about)
• 1/4 bunch parsley, chopped
• 1 cup whipping cream
• crumbled bacon (to garnish)
• chopped green onion (to garnish)
• shredded colby

Directions:

1. In large, heavy pot, saute bacon, onions and celery over medium-high heat until celery is tender. (I like to cook the bacon first and get it it almost crispy before adding the celery and onions).
2. Drain grease and return bacon, onions and celery to pot.
3. Add milk, water, chicken base, salt and pepper.
4. Heat over medium-high heat until very hot but do not let soup boil.
5. In heavy, large saucepan over low heat, melt margarine.
6. Stir in flour to make a roux.
7. Mix well and let bubble, stirring 1 minute.
8. If desired, a larger amount of roux can be made to produce a thicker soup.
9. Gradually add roux to soup, stirring constantly.
10. Continue to cook, stirring, until thick and creamy.
11. Stir in potatoes, parsley and cream.
12. Serve hot, garnished with cheese, bacon bits and/or onions.

Reviews

[Two Socks]

The flavor and texture of this soup was great. I used a white onion and used 8 chicken bouillon cubes for the base. I also used a pint of half and half for the cream and a cup of the milk. I will definitely make this again, however, there are a few changes I would make as this does take a lot of time to put together. I will only saute 4 or 5 strips of bacon when I begin and do the rest in the oven to be sure all the bacon is evenly cooked and crispy, then add it when I add the potatoes at the end. I may also peal, cube, and boil the potatoes since pealing the baked potatoes was where most of my effort went. Thank you for a great recipe.

[Nathan's Nana]

Ridgely, this was a wonderful, flavorful soup! I had a chuck roast Sunday and had roast beef sandwiches and this soup on Monday. My husband was in heaven. Also, my 3 yr. old grandson even ate it, and he is really picky. I used half and half, milk & 4 chicken bouillon cubes (I didn't have chicken base). I crumbled 5 pieces of bacon and put it in last. Also, I put all the thickening in at once and I thought it made the soup too thick, so next time I will add this gradually. I had a large bowl of this soup left over on Monday & so today I had it for lunch. I dissolved a bouillon cube in water and added to soup to thin it out a little. The flavor was even better two days later. This is a winner and you can be sure I will make this soup often. By the way, the name of the restaurant where this recipe originated is called the Machine Shed Restaurant. I also found this recipe and the name of the restaurant on "Recipelink". Thanks for posting here.

[Princess Tomato]

Not that this needs another raving review, but I'm going to give it one. My fiance had been saying how much he'd like for us to make some potato soup, so we settled on this recipe. We were not disappointed! It was VERY good! We left the skin on the potatoes, because we love it, and we pre-cooked the bacon because we wanted it to be crunchier. It was amazing, and I know we'll make this many, many more times! Thank you!