Baked Potato Soup

In my last post I linked to the recipe that I used for Baked Potato Soup.  Then I realized that like most things, I didn't really follow the recipe exactly.  So here it is with a few minor Tracey changes.  

Baked Potato Soup 

Ingredients

• 6 bacon strips, diced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 clove garlic, minced
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 4 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed (
• 2 cup half-and-half cream
• Shredded Cheddar cheese
• Minced fresh parsley

Directions

1. Bake potatoes in oven until cooked through.  
2. In a large dutch oven. cook bacon until crisp. 
3. Drain, leaving one 1 tablespoon drippings in the pan. Set bacon aside. 
4. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender.  I cook them FOREVER until almost caramelized.  If you are aggressive while doing this you can get a lot of the burnt bacon off the bottom of the pan.  That is, if you are like me and have burnt bacon bits on the bottom of the pan.  
5. Make a roux by adding in some of the bacon fat and the flour.  This should be brown and bubbly. It is hard to tell around the onions but just do you best in order to cook out the flour flavor.  Unless it starts smoking you can't rook a roux too long.  
6. Stir in salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. While stirring, finish using the liquid to deglaze the bottom of the pan.  Get as much of that bacon goodness as you can.  
7. Add half of the potatoes.  At this point I used my immersion blender to blend the potatoes and onions into a creamy mixture.  I like my soup kind of thick and we don't like onion chunks. 
8. Add the rest of the potatoes, half of the bacon, half-and half cream and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil. 
9. Garnish with leftover bacon, cheese and parsley.