26. Potato-Chile-Cheese Soup à la Butt Rock

When your friends do you the grand favor of coming over after a late-running quiz (on a theme of Butt Rock this week!), the least you can do for them is prepare them a hot & nourishing soup. This one works well. And it will cause your friends, maybe, to come up with slogans for which you are forever indebted to them (vis-a-vis, this blog's new tagline, "You're never too drunk to make good soup!").

Adapted from Mollie Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest . Obviously, the bacon is not original to the recipe.

Potato-Chile-Cheese Soup
Serves eight, technically, but at our house it only fed six

5 small-to-medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
4 cups water
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red chile flakes
1 1/2 orange or red bell peppers, diced
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
4 thick slices good bacon, diced
1 large can (7 oz?) diced green ("Ortega") chiles
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk, preferably non-nonfat
More salt and plenty of fresh-ground pepper

1 1/2 cups grated Jack cheese
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Bring potatoes and water to boil in a large saucepan, covered; reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are falling-apart tender, about 20 minutes. Using a potato masher (or, I guess, a blender if you absolutely must), mash potatoes and water together until very smooth. (Blenders and food processors have a decided tendency to make potatoes gummy. Bleah. Spend two minutes mashing them yourself instead.) Set aside.

In a soup pot, heat butter and olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add cumin, salt, chile flakes and bell pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until pepper is tender, about 5 minutes more. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Add potato mixture and broth; bring to a boil; reduce heat to very low; cook, covered, while preparing bacon.

Place bacon in a cold skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Stir in sour cream, milk and green chiles. Heat through; taste and correct seasoning.

Serve each bowl with a generous sprinkling each of cheese, cilantro and bacon.

As Axl Rose himself might say, "It's so easy."

Comments

[Suzy]

I live in the enchanted bacon forest, right across the way from the enchanted broccoli forest. Freaking vegan elves never mow their lawn, but otherwise they're OK neighbors.

[Molly]

Broccoli-bacon forest deliciousness, mmmmmmm.