Potato Soup Served in a Bread Bowl

When it gets cold outside, you simply cannot beat soup, and nothing beats cold more than a hearty potato soup. Potatoes are quite possibly my favorite starchy food, and you'll rarely find me without potatoes in my cupboard! With winter closing in, it seems just about time to pull this soup out again for the season.

This recipe starts, perhaps unsurprisingly, with potatoes. 4 large russets should do nicely. Potatoes vary widely in size, so this should be about 2 pounds of potatoes. You may be fortunate enough to have some leftover potatoes in your fridge, but rarely are there leftover potatoes in my house. Bake them in a 350 degree oven for an hour or microwave on the "baked potato setting" until tender when pierced with a fork. Just be sure to thoroughly puncture the potato with a fork beforehand, lest it explode and leave a terrible mess! Yes, that has happened to me. Let the potatoes cool for a few minutes or you'll burn your hands later on.

While you're waiting for the potatoes to cool is a good time to cook some bacon. I generally do somewhere between 6 and 9 slices, or however much is in the package. Be sure to cook it until crisp. Remove to a plate covered in a paper towel to drain.

Now that the potatoes have cooled, peel the potatoes (if desired; I generally leave at least some of the peel behind) and chop them into roughly 3/4" cubes. 

With the prep out of the way, let's make some soup. Like many milk-based soups, this one is thickened by a mixture known as a roux. It's French, and it's pronounced like "you'll rue the day you didn't thicken your soup." To make it, prepare equal amounts (by weight) of butter and flour, approximately 1/3 cup butter and 1/2 cup flour. Melt the butter in a heavy stock pot over medium-high heat. Once completely melted, add all the flour. Whisk constantly until the roux becomes thin and starts to bubble. Reduce the heat to low and whisk occasionally for 2 minutes.

Once the roux is complete, begin slowly adding 7 cups of milk, whisking to combine. Increase heat to medium and heat for about 10 minutes. This gives time for the flour to thicken the soup. Be sure to stir frequently, scraping  the bottom of the pot, or the soup will burn to the bottom, even in a nonstick pot!

Stir in the potatoes and 4 chopped green onions. Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low to simmer for 10 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, get out your bread bowls. Baking bread bowls is entirely too much work for me, so I buy mini bread boules from Trader Joe's, though I'm sure any grocery store would have something that would work. Using a knife to cut a "lid" and a spoon to remove bread, empty out an area in each bread bowl for soup to go. Bake the finished bowls in the oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes to warm. Remove to plates.

Mix in 1 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 1 cup sour cream, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, and 1/2 tsp garlic powder. Crumble the bacon and serve it in a bowl alongside the soup so vegetarians can omit it.

This recipe is an adaptation of Baked Potato Soup I from AllRecipes.com.