Karl’s Baked Potato Soup

I wanted a soup to go with my Uzbek samsa. I had originally thought about a white bean soup, but I have been cooking a lot with beans lately and I thought Jan would object. I noticed that the chive in our garden has come back from the winter and we had some sour cream in the refrigerator (this is not a staple in our house—too high fat). These ingredients started me thinking about baked potatoes.  Could I make a soup version of a baked potato? Yes, I could.

Karl’s Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients

2 Tbs. butter
2 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Russet potatoes, diced
2 cups chicken stock (vegetable stock, if you want to be strictly vegetarian)
½ tsp. white pepper
¼ tsp. salt
A pinch nutmeg

½ cup cream (or half and half)
½ cup sour cream, separate uses
3 Tbs. snipped chives, separate uses
Crisp crumpled bacon (optional)

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large pot and sauté the shallots for 2 minutes.

2. Add the garlic and sauté for one minute more.

3. Add the potatoes, stock, pepper, salt, and nutmeg. Simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Blend the soup until mostly smooth (I like to leave a few chunks of potato).

5. Stir in the cream, ¼ cup of the sour cream and 2 Tbs. of the chives.

6. Serve the remaining sour cream, chives and bacon on the side, to be added as the dinners choose.