Wade Farley’s New Potato Soup

I was thinking about my daddy today and missing him and found myself craving his cream of potato soup.  When I was a child he made this soup with new red potatoes and green onions from his garden.  It was quite a bit of work because he never peeled them, he scraped the skin off, which left the potatoes just a little pink.  He'd fry up some bacon, reserve the bits and then quarter the potatoes and brown them a little in the bacon grease.  He'd add the finely chopped white of green onions and stir those in too before covering it all with water.  Then he'd salt and pepper it before boiling everything.  When the potatoes were very tender, in went some milk.  He would stir in the reserved bacon bits and the chopped green onion tops.  It was never a very thick soup but when I ate it I would mash up the tender potatoes a little and somehow it magically thickened it to the right consistency.  I made my daddy's soup today and it was delicious.  Food can be a time machine.

-- Wendy Farley

Wade Farley's New Potato Soup:

2 lbs of red potatoes peeled and quartered

2 slices of thick cut bacon, chopped

2 green onions – green part sliced, the white part chopped finely

3 cups of chicken broth (or water)

3/4 cup of milk (or heavy cream if you want it richer)

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large sauce pan, sauté chopped bacon until it renders and the bacon is cooked. Reserve bacon bits for later.

Stir in quartered potatoes and brown for a few minutes in the bacon grease.

Add in the green onions and stir until they’re fragrant and a little soft.

Cover with chicken broth (or water).

Simmer until the potatoes are tender.

Stir in the milk (or heavy cream)

Add in the ½ of the reserved bacon

Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve topped with chopped green onion tops and a few bits of bacon.

*I mash up some of the potatoes with an immersion blender to make it thicker and add in a little cheese as well.

Makes 4 servings.