Jan Norris: Food and Florida

Potato soup with sweet-hot bacon bits

A hearty warm-up for a cold day!

Add sweet-hot bacon bits to this traditional potato soup recipe for a special zing, along with green onions.

Note: You can make this stove top in a Dutch oven if you don’t have a slow cooker.

Potato soup and sweet-hot bacon bits

• 8 to 10 medium white potatoes, peeled, diced
• 1 carrot, peeled, diced
• 1 medium onion, peeled, diced
• 1 quart chicken broth – low sodium preferred
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1-1/2 cups half-and-half OR 1 12-ounce can evaporated low-fat milk
• Salt and pepper to taste
• For garnish (as desired):
• sweet-hot bacon (see recipe below)
• shredded cheese
• chopped green onions

Put all ingredients except milk in slow cooker or Dutch oven. Cover, cook on low setting for 8 hours. In Dutch oven, cook for 2 hours on slight simmer.

Stir in half-and-half or milk, and cook 30 minutes more till heated through. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Serve, garnishing each bowl with sweet-hot bacon bits, shredded cheese and green onions.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Sweet-hot bacon

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 1/4 pound thick-cut smoked bacon
• Foil-lined baking pan

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix sugar and pepper together in a flat pie pan using a wire whisk to incorporate pepper.

Press bacon strips into sugar mixure, coating both sides. Put bacon flat on foil-lined pan. Bake at 400 degrees in center of oven till bacon is crisp, turning once - about 6 minutes per side.

Remove and drain on paper toweling. Cool completely, then chop into bits for garnishing soup.

(These strips, cut in half and served on a cocktail skewer, also make an excellent appetizer to serve with cocktails.)

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