Garlic Potato Soup with Parsley oil, Frizzled Shallots & Bacon

Garlic Potato Soup with Parsley Oil, Frizzled Shallots and Bacon. That's a pretty long name isn't it? This is the second recipe that I tried out for the Autumn 2014 Edition of the Food & Drink magazine from the LCBO. Based of the name of this one, it seems like it would be pretty complicated but it really isn't. If you like creamy filling soups then you need to try this one.



Ingredients (Garnish):
6 - Slices of bacon
2 - Shallots, peeled and sliced
1 - Tbsp chopped parsley
2 - Tbsp olive oil

Ingredients (Soup):
4 - Medium potatoes
1 - Head of roasted garlic
1 - Tbsp butter
1 - Medium onion, chopped
4 - Cups of chicken broth
1/2 - Tsp salt
1/3 - Tsp cayenne
1/2 - Cup whipping cream

Directions:
The first thing you need to do is set the oven to 350 so you can start on the Garlic. Roasting the Garlic is going to take about 40 minutes.

I ended up roasting two cloves at once and I used one to have with an appetizer while waiting for the soup to simmer.

Take your garlic and remove the lose skin.





Cut the top off and drizzle with olive oil (an additional Tsp).





Cover in aluminum foil and put in the oven for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.



Because we need to wait for the garlic, we can start on the Garnish. Fry bacon in a medium sized frying pan over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until desired crispiness. Remove bacon to paper towel, leaving all fat in the pan.







Add shallots and fry for 6 - 8 minutes over low-medium heat. Remove shallots to paper towel. Combined Shallots and Bacon on a small paper and keep to the size for later. The bacon fat can be discarded.







Finely chop parsley, combined with olive oil and set aside.



For the soup, peel and cut potatoes into small pieces.





Heat butter over low-medium heat and add onion. Cook for 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown.





At this point the Garlic should be ready to come out of the oven.



Add Chicken stock, potatoes, roasted garlic, salt and cayenne to the onions that you just finished frying.



Cover and simmer for 20 - 25 minutes or until potatoes are tender.



The next step is to puree in a blender until smooth. I blend half, poured it into a new large serving bowl, add the whipping cream and then added the second blended half and then mix together well.



Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish in center with heap of bacon and shallots. Drizzle a little of the parley oil around the sides.



Fun Fact: The LCBO recipe called for a "Generous pinch of cayenne" so that's what I did. Oh man was that a mistake... The soup tasted great but then my mouth was immediately over come with the heat from the cayenne. If you like heat then go a head and add some more but if you don't want to sweat while eating your soup, keep it to 1/2 Tsp or less ;)