Rustic Potato Soup

Rustic potato soup - borrowed image.

One of my favorite dishes from an unnamed Italian restaurant is this very soup. It's hearty, simple, and most of all, delicious. I've seen other versions of this recipe, but I assure you - once you make this, you will never pay the restaurant for their version again.

You'll need:

1 lb.ground hot Italian sausage - if unavailable, 5 links (skinned) will do
1/2 lb. cooked bacon, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
6 minced cloves of garlic
1 tsp. or so sea salt
6-8 medium potatoes, skin on, thinly sliced (I use a mandolin.)

6 cups (about 4 liters) chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup cream
small bunch of kale, finely chopped

Also: olive oil

Heat some oil in a deep pot. Add sausage, Brown sausage, chopping it into small chunks as it cooks. Remove sausage from pot with a slotted spoon and set aside; leave drippings in pot. Add onion and garlic, saute at low - medium heat until slightly translucent, then add the wine and stir to finish deglazing pot.

Pour chicken stock into pot and add potatoes. Add the salt and cook until potatoes are nearly cooked though. Toss in bacon, wait ten minutes. Add sausage back and cook for about 10-15 minutes. Taste and season as you go, this soup works well that way. Drop heat to low, add cream and kale. Stir it in thoroughly and serve.

Serves 6 to 8 well.

Potato and leek soup

Potato and Leek Soup with Bacon and Mushrooms

I like potato and leek soup, but I decided to kick it up a bit, give it some texture and that good smoky flavor that comes with bacon. I made this last night, and it was really good. For this recipe I used dried spices though. Hope you like it as well!

2 lbs. of small red potatoes
1 lb. mushrooms, sliced
3 quarts of chicken stock (I use the boxed liquid stock)
2 cups vegetable stock
3 leeks
1 pound of hickory smoked bacon
1/2 cup half and half
1/3 cup white wine
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 tbsp. parsley
2 tbsp. fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano (the real cheese, it makes a difference)
dash marjoram
dash sage
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp. coarse sea salt
1 tbsp. coarse black pepper

Cut potatoes into roughly 1" chunks and boil in lightly salted water. Cook the bacon to reasonable crispness, then set aside to cool. Cut up the leeks (white and light green part only) and wash them. (Separate the rings of the leeks in a colander and run them under water.)

Once boiled, drain the potatoes and place them back in the pot. Add two quarts of chicken stock and place pot on medium heat. Using an immersion blender, puree the potatoes (if you don't have an immersion blender, put them in a standard blender and do it that way. You may have to do it in several loads.) Add mushrooms,wine, and remaining stocks to the puree. Add Parmigiano, bay leaf and other spices. Cook on medium-low for about twenty minutes.

Sautee the leeks in the same pan the bacon was cooked in, till just softened. Chop bacon and add it to the soup. Add leeks and half and half, stirring it in slowly. lower heat and simmer for about fifteen minutes. Serve.

Cook time: approximately an hour and a half

Serves 6...well.