Cheesy Potato Vegetable Soup

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I make this quite regularly as a main course, served with buttered bread. Once you’ve done it once or twice, it’s quite simple. It’s one very good way to get Zoë to eat vegetables.

A note about cooking: I use pre-chopped bacon and I cook up the bacon, onion, celery, and carrot in a big skillet and then transfer to the soup pot. I do this because my soup pot isn’t really fit for cooking stuff on the bottom of it. If you have a good, large pot that you can cook on the bottom, save yourself the washing and do it all in that pot. For me, I have to do it twice, until I get myself a really good large pot.

Cut down on fat in this recipe by using low-fat milk, lite cheese, and thoroughly draining the bacon or replacing the bacon with a lower-fat ham.

INGREDIENTS

  • 6 thick slices bacon (may be chopped before cooking)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 small carrot, chopped
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 4 cups chicken stock (preferably low-salt)
  • 4 cups cubed potatoes (approximately 4-5 medium to large potatoes)
  • 1 small head of broccoli, chopped into bite sized pieces
  • 1/2 to 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (to taste)
  • 1/2 to 1 cup milk
  • 1 Tbsp chopped parsley (optional)

Directions:

In skillet (or bottom of your soup pot – see my note above), brown the bacon until crisp. Set aside on paper towel to drain.

Add olive oil to the bacon drippings and cook onion, celery, and carrots over medium heat until onion is translucent but not browned. Transfer the entire contents of the skillet to the soup pot (or not, if you’re
cooking in the soup pot from the start).

Add stock, turn on heat to bring to a simmer. While stock heats, chop potatoes and put them into the pot as they’re chopped. Chop broccoli into bite-sized pieces. Crumble bacon if not pre-chopped. When the soup comes to a strong, rolling simmer, add the broccoli.

Put on the lid, allow soup to simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

When potatoes are cooked, take soup off the heat. Add bacon and stir through. Add cheese and stir through to melt. Then add the milk (how much you add depends on how creamy you want the soup).
Top soup with chopped parsley if desired. Serve with buttered bread.

Serves 4-6, depending on how much you serve for each person and how much milk you put in.