Fall, of course, signals the beginning of Soup Season. While soup is arguably a year-round food, and there are plenty of cold soups to prove this, there's nothing that says "home" like a pot of hot soup simmering on the stove when you come in from a hard day's raking. For a couple of highly organized years, I would make a large pot of soup every Sunday afternoon and we would whittle away at it all week long; the house smelled amazing even before we started cooking dinner, and I felt incredibly virtuous. While I haven't been that motivated in a while, I do like a good soup dinner.
This soup checks all the boxes. It's fast enough to make on a weeknight - no long simmering required. It's hearty enough to fill you up so you don't feel like you're starving your teenage son or forcing him to scrounge for leftovers. It's a small batch so you won't be eating it so long that you get tired of it. And most of the cooking is done in the microwave, which means that cleanup is pretty minimal. I was so happy to *not* have to clean up bacon grease.
As with all soups, you can scale it up infinitely, limited only by the size of your pot, though this one won't freeze well because of the milk. It does end up being pretty thick but you can always add a little more milk or broth; personally I liked that it spooned up almost like scooping out the inside of a baked potato.
This recipe comes from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2011. Man, do I ever miss that magazine.
It's Soup Season Loaded Baked Potato Soup
4 6-oz red potatoes
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
3 Tbsp GF flour mix or half-and-half mix of rice flour and cornstarch
2 cups milk, divided
1/4 cup sour cream
salt and pepper
3 slices bacon
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 thinly sliced green onions
Pierce the potatoes with a fork and microwave on high for 13 minutes or until tender. Cut in half and cool slightly.
While the potatoes cook, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute 3 minutes. Add the broth. Combine the flour with 1/2 cup milk, then add it and the remaining milk to the pan. Bring to a boil, stirring often, and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream, salt, and pepper.
Put the bacon on a paper towel-covered plate, cover with another paper towel, and microwave on high for 4 minutes. Chop the bacon.
Scrape off the potato skins and coarsely mash the potatoes into the soup. Serve with the cheese, bacon, and green onions.
