Becca's Baked Potato Soup

So with all of this rain in DC yesterday I was craving a big bowl of soup, a blanket and some good TV. Thankfully my roommate, BW was thinking the same thing and made a big pot of soup. It was so good I had to share it with y'all. 

Ingredients

1 package of bacon - hickory cured bacon is the best, and has no nitrates or nitrites

3/4 yellow or Vidalia onion, chopped or sliced 

3-4 Yukon gold potatoes depending on size, chopped into pieces a little smaller than a square inch

2-3 cups of milk, cream or half and half

4-5 tbsp corn starch

Salt and pepper to taste

*Sharp cheddar

*Scallions

*Crumbled bacon leftover from soup

*garnish 

Directions

1.     Cook the full package of bacon, 3-4 small batches at a time, in the bottom of a medium-large soup pot (preferably a cast iron dutch oven). When the bacon’s crispy, set aside on paper towels. Do not drain the grease.

2.    Sauté the onion in the bacon fat for 10-15 mins until soft. Meanwhile, salt and pepper the chopped potatoes that are waiting to go into the pot.

3.    Add the potatoes to the pot and stir so the bacon fat coats the potatoes.

4.    Add 6-8 cups of water and roughly ¼ cup of salt and about ½ tbsp of pepper to taste.  Bring to a rolling boil until potatoes are soft and then turn down to simmer.

5.    In a separate bowl, mix 2 cups of milk, cream or half and half with 4-5 tbsp of cornstarch and whisk until the corn starch is dissolved. Stir this mixture in slowly, 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly and checking the consistency as you go, until you’ve reached the desired consistency.

6.    Ladle into a bowl and add shredded cheddar, chopped scallions and chopped bacon. 

This is soooooo good. The only thing that could make this better is a nice bread bowl (next time). Not exactly healthy, but this cool rainy weather allows for exceptions to the rule. 

Thanks BW!