4x4 potato soup

I have a confession to make:  I rarely follow recipes, especially for soup.  I just kinda make soup, and sometimes it turns out, and sometimes not :)

I did look for a recipe the first* time I made this soup, but don't bother to use it since, well, it's soup!  But this is generally how I make my potato soup - a quick, easy, filling and cheap meal and great for a warm lunch on a winter's day.

Ingredients:
1/4 pound of bacon (or more, or less), chopped
onion, diced (about 1/2 a medium-sized onion, or more, or less)
1 large stalk of celery, diced
4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
4 cups cubed potatoes
1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
thyme, to taste (probably around 1/4 - 1/2 a teaspoon, I just shake from the jar)
pepper, to taste

In a heavy-bottom pot (not non-stick), cook the bacon over medium-low heat until crispy (but not too crispy, because I don't like too-crispy bacon).  Move the cooked bacon to a small bowl with a slotted spoon, and pour most of the fat into another container (discard or keep, as per your needs).  Add the onion and celery to the pot, and cook until soft, scraping up the bacony goodness from the bottom of the pot as you go along (this is why you shouldn't use non-stick - you loose all the bacony goodness from the bottom of the pot, and who wants that to happen??).  Add a bit of the stock, and scrape up whatever is still on the bottom of the pot.  By the way, I always use a wooden spoon for this.  Add the rest of the stock, the potatoes and the chili powder, thyme and pepper.  Cook (still over medium-low heat)  until the potatoes are soft.  Serve, sprinkled with the reserved bacon bits.  Makes 4 servings.

So, why 4x4?  well, it's 4 cups of stock, 4 cups of potatoes and makes 4 servings :)  It's easily scale-able, so if you have more people to feed (or are very hungry), toss in more both stock and potatoes, and some more bacon.  Have carrots?  Chop them up, and add along with the onions and celery (the classic mirepoix).

Thyme is my go-to herb, and along with celery, I find it adds a lot of flavour to almost any "liquid" dish.  The chipotle chili powder adds a touch of smokey heat, but not enough to even identify for most people.  Feel free to play around with the seasonings.  I don't add salt, since the bacon tends to be salty enough for my taste.

Variation:

I love corn chowder, but I don't often cook with dairy, since I tend to freeze a lot of what I make, and dairy doesn't always freeze well.  So, this is my dairy-free version of corn chowder :)

Along with the potatoes and stock, add 1-2 cups of leftover or frozen corn (I tend to use what ever I have on hand, but make sure you reserve at least 1 cup to add later).  Cook until the potatoes are soft.  Using a blender, immersion blender, or food processor, blend the soup until smooth.  Add the rest of the corn, some finely diced jalapeno peppers, and heat through,  Again, serve sprinkled with the reserved bacon.  The potatoes thicken the soup nicely - at least for my tastes!


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*after I saw the recipe, I realized I've made it for years, as the base for my corn chowder.  Duh.