Potato Soup with Sour Cream and Bacon

It's Wednesday, and that means I make a little attempt to cook a something from today's NY Times. Today’s recipe was…

Roasted Potato Soup with Sour Cream and Bacon

Here’s the recipe (courtesy of the New York Times)

4 thin-skinned medium potatoes, Yukon Gold or Carola, skin on, sliced ¾-inch thick
2 teaspoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
6 thyme sprigs
6 slices bacon, coarsely chopped
½ cup sour cream
2 tablespoons minced chives (optional).

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Toss potatoes in oil and ½ teaspoon salt. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet and bake uncovered until tender, about 35 minutes. Transfer to a pot with a tight-fitting lid. Pour 1 cup boiling water into baking sheet and swirl to deglaze, then pour into pot with potatoes. Add bay leaf, thyme and 5 cups boiling water, cover tightly, and set aside for 1 hour. Remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs. Using a hand blender or working in batches in a blender, purée soup until smooth, adding more boiling water if mixture is too thick. Season with salt and pepper, keeping in mind that the bacon garnish will be salty.

2. Just before serving, cook bacon in skillet over medium-low heat until crisp but not hard. Set aside, reserving fat. Reheat soup over low heat.

3. Pour hot soup into bowls and gently place a dollop of sour cream on top. Spoon about ½ teaspoon bacon fat on top and sprinkle with bacon bits and chives, if using.

I halved the recipe and skipped the chives. The potatoes looked great when they came out of the oven.



Here they are, after steeping, and right before their trip to the blender.



And after the blender, looking thoroughly tamed, bebaconed, and sour creamified.



Note that I actually added way more sour cream that the above picture would have you believe, it just sank to the bottom. After tasting, I added some salt and plenty of pepper. The end result was pretty yummy, but the predominant flavor was definitely THYME! It was a hearty and warming soup, good for cold icky days.

If I made this again, I’d definitely find a way to make it, somehow, more bacony. I thought the bacon would really stand out, especially with the addition of the bacon fat. It added some flavor and crunch, but in my (bacon loving) opinion, it could have been much stronger. Also, I think I’d add either some minced green onions or even frizzled leeks to give it a little zing for contrast. Or maybe I’d even roast a head of garlic while the soup steeps and squeeze (lots of) bits of roasted garlic in as part of the garnish.