Baby Red Baked Potato and Kale Soup with Bacon
What to do when you’ve a basket of baby red potatoes waiting to be used up?
How about cooking up a nice sized pot filled with Baby Red Baked Potato and Kale Soup with Bacon?
Having gotten behind on things over the past few weeks (ahem, OK a little longer) I’d had a few pounds of baby red potatoes seemingly screaming at me, ‘you better use me up or you’ll be sorry.’ Yes, that from the bursting second level of the black metal triple tiered basket set in a visible corner of my kitchen always host to some array of vegetables. So the other night I did, use up those few pounds of baby red potatoes, that is, and so I wasn’t sorry, especially because I hadn’t been expecting that nights dinner to turn into a must share recipe post. Don’t you just love it when a non-plan comes together?
Baby Red Baked Potato and Kale Soup with Bacon
Ingredients
- 3 pounds baby red potatoes
- 7-8 tablespoons butter, separated
- 1 medium sized onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups milk
- 4 cups chicken stock, little extra for thinning
- 1 pound kale
- 6-7 slices bacon
- 2 cups Gouda cheese
- 2 tablespoons coarse kosher salt, more or less to taste
- few grinds or more fresh cracked pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Remove any tough stems from kale leaves. Cook kale in a small pot of well salted boiling water for a minute or two, drain, rinse with cool water, squeeze dry with paper toweling then chop, set aside
- Cook bacon until crisp, remove onto paper towel lined plate, then chop, set aside
- Pierce washed red potatoes all around using a fork, set onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until very tender all the way through around 45 minutes
- Meanwhile, on the lowest heat temperature, melt 3 tablespoons butter in a soup pot, tumble in the onions and cook for 7 minutes until softened, scrape in the garlic, cook another 2 minutes, sprinkle over the flour, increase heat to medium stir constantly and cook 3 minutes, whisk in the milk, continue to cook thickening up a bit.
- Once potatoes are done, transfer 2 ladles of the hot milk mixture into a bowl, Quarter potatoes and working in two batches place half of the cut potatoes into the fitted bowl of a food processor along with 2 tablespoons butter and half of the hot milk from the bowl, pulse until smooth, transfer creamed potatoes to the soup pot, finish pulsing and creaming the second batch of potatoes in the same way adding another 2 tablespoons butter with the remaining milk finishing transferring to the soup pot
- Pour in the chicken stock stirring well to incorporate Stir in the kale and chopped bacon and continue simmering soup on very low heat for another fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally, add a little extra chicken stock for thinning, sprinkle in the salt and pepper, check seasoning, adjust to taste
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