baked potato soup

Last Sunday, the Hubby and I had lunch with his side of the family; we went to this resto with fabulous baked potato soup. It was so freaking yummy that within the first spoonful I decided to try to replicate it at home. I Googled various baked potato soup recipes to get a general idea, and then for lunch today I made attempt number one.

I'm happy to say that attempt number one turned out to be really good soup, and I'm proud enough to share my improvised recipe here.


Baked Potato Soup

You will need:

• 2 large potatoes, diced (or around 2 1/2 cup or diced potato)
• 2 cups water
• 1 small onion, finely chopped (around 1/4 cup)
• 2 small cloves of garlic (or one large one), crushed
• 1 cup evaporated milk or cream
• cheddar cheese, grated (or any cheese you prefer, I suppose)
• a few tablespoons of spring onions, finely chopped
• fried garlic chips

Optional:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• a few sprigs of rosemary, minced
• bacon chips
• salt and pepper

Procedure:

I know this is called "baked potato soup", but some of the recipes I found didn't require baking the potato since the vegetables have to be boiled together anyway. So here goes --

• Boil the potato until soft. By soft I mean easily mashable.
  
  Suggestions:
  Boil the taters with rosemary (or any herb of your choice); I chose rosemary because it adds a bit of tang.
  If you don't have herbs, you can use chicken flavor cubes. You can also use chicken broth instead of water, if you prefer.
• Remove from heat. Draw out half of the potato cubes and mash them separately with a fork. Combine the mashed potatoes and potato cubes in the pot.
• Toss in the onion and garlic to the potatoes-and-herb mixture and bring to a boil.
• At this point you can add butter if you prefer, and/or a few tablespoons of grated cheese.
• Lower heat and let simmer.
• Remove from heat and stir in the milk or cream.
• Serve warm in individual bowls. Top with spring onion, garlic chips and more grated cheese. Bacon chips would be a good idea too. Makes 4-6 servings.