I’ve been doing quite a bit of recipe testing lately. It’s a lot of fun because many of the recipes are ones I wouldn’t normally try, so it pushes me to try and taste new things. One of the recipes needed baking potatoes but of a specific size so when I had some left over, I figured why not make soup (plus I had lots of stock left over too!)? I knew from past experience that if I called this Vichyssoise I would be lambasted because I didn’t use leeks nor did I use cream so, to nip it in the butt, I just called it Chilled Baked Potato Soup! 😛
I made this for lunch and I didn’t have anything else with it so I wanted it hearty. Add more stock if you don’t want it as thick.
A Room Temperature Baked Potato Soup
Makes about four servings 375 mL each (1 1/2 cups)
Ingredients:
- 1 large baking potato, scrubbed clean
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 4-5 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup chicken stock (or vegetable stock for vegetarians)
- 1/4 strip of bacon, cooked until crispy, per serving (substitute with feta or crumbled vegan feta (recipe to come))
- 1 tsp of sour cream or crême fraiche or Greek yogurt, per serving (or vegan sour cream)
- 1 chopped green onion
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Pre-heat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Pierce the baking potato with a fork (so it doesn’t explode) and wrap with parchment and then foil. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserts easily.
- Meanwhile, in a small ramekin, add the garlic cloves (with skin on), the chopped onion and cover with 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Season with a little salt and cover the ramekin with foil. Bake along side the potato for 30-45 minutes or until the garlic is very soft.
- When the potato is done, cut in half and scoop out all of the flesh with a spoon into a glass bowl. Squeeze out the garlic cloves from their skin and add to the potatoes, pour in the chicken stock with the onions and salt into the potato mix. With your stick blender, purée adding stock until you achieve the consistency you want. Press through a fine sieve to ensure it’s silky smooth.
- Serve at room temperature (or reheat), garnished with 1 tsp sour cream, crumbled bacon and chopped green onion.
Notes:
- I’m in the process of creating a recipe for vegan feta (a brined cheese) so stay tuned!
- The soup definitely tastes better at room temperature rather than chilled, you get more of the potato flavour at room temperature.
- If you heat the soup, add some grated cheddar on top, I didn’t because I thought it might be weird because it wouldn’t melt.
- You may replace the stock for roasting the garlic with olive oil, I did not because I wanted it a bit healthier.
Love this!
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That looks fantastic. I wouldn’t change a thing.
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That looks delicious and I wouldn’t thin it out at all. It looks perfect. I like the bacon, green onion and sour cream on top too. Very clever as always. I am still just so happy for you with all of your new adventures. It’s just right up your alley. 🙂
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I find that an awful lot of things that are supposed to be “chilled” are better at room temperature. I also find a lot of things we expect to be warm — salmon, say — are also better at room temperature! But it’s probably that I’m just weird. 😉 Anyway, fun soup. No matter what you choose to call it. 😀
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Sold! JT’s testimonial made me smile 😉 — there’s no shortage of Irish in this girl; I luv my spuds! The combination of flavours, colours and textures is so appealing here… my entire family would be all over this (I’m thinking great for future super bowl weekends too). I am trying to imagine how I would enjoy it cold… my reflex seems to want to warm it up but I think that’s just familiarity talking. I am open to trying this in chilled form. What a great idea for a recipe conversion Eva. Love it!
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Beside the sophistication in the recipe, this stroke a very sensitive string in me, Eva. My first memories are scent driven, and for me baked potatoes always translate as “home”. Thank you!
P.S. I wonder whether sauerkraut would complement it?
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Hi Dorin, thank you for your comment and welcome to my blog, I’m rather touched that you are reading it. I hadn’t thought about sauerkraut, it might be just too strong and overpower the subtle flavour of the potato. If you try it, please let me know.
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you have the most interesting recipes and methods at times. I just love visiting to see what you come up with next. this looks insane
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Oh hell yes. Yes to all of this.
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At first I thought you have discovered a slow potato-baking method 😉 The soup looks lovely. I also like thick potato creamy soups with fried bacon on top.
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Baked potato soup sounds so delicious, especially if you can serve at room temperature in the summer. This would be great recipe to make once and eat twice. Take care
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All the recipes you present are delicious in spite of any naming issues. I think it’s the ‘expectation’ that is jarring especially if one is already familiar with a particularly named dish, for example, make something ‘Florentine’ without spinach and you’ll get comments similar to making a ‘guacamole’ without the avocado. 🙂
That said, I like my soups piping hot so I’m not a fan of things like gazpacho and I’d be likely to warm this up and thin it down. But I’d eat it.
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This soup makes me want to devour it, so steamy and delicious 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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That’s a gorgeous looking soup. I love potato with crispy bacon. This looks amazing xx
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Potato soup is always a treat…hot or cold.
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I love this. I usually make potato cheddar soup but I think I might like this better. It must be fun to be so busy on food-related work.
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Yummy! Potato and bacon go together so well!
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I did a similar soup with cauliflower…very delicious but not as creamy and awesome as this..thanks for sharing, Eva.
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