Fowl Potato Soup

I started making dinner with a plan to make a pot of potato soup.  I’d been craving it for a while but every time I went to make it we were out of bacon.  I knew we had bacon in the drawer this day and plenty of potatoes on hand due to the UND Potato Bowl specials.  The local stores usually feature potatoes that week and we had been daring and purchased two bags.  I was stocked for my pot of soup.

Looking in the fridge for any onion that was waiting to be finished off, I found a container with leftover roast chicken, mostly breast meat.  Digging in the freezer for some onion I’d chopped and frozen earlier in the year I found a chunk of roasted turkey breast.  Breasts were calling to me?  Maybe my soup needed to take a turn and become a medley of meats and vegetables?

Fry the bacon pieces in a drizzle of oil in a small soup pot.

I’d already diced the bacon and it was browning in my smaller soup pot.  I let it get almost totally browned before I added some onion.

Add onion and fry until it is browned around the edges.

I chopped a good cup of onion and added them to the pot for a few minutes of browning, to sweeten them up.

Add a little of the broth and scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.

By now the bottom of my soup pot was covered with beautiful brown bits and I poured about a cup of the broth into the pot and used a scraper to loosen all the flavorful bits.  I added some celery salt and sage to the pot for further seasoning.

Add the remainder of the broth and the potatoes to the soup pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until potatoes are fork tender.

I added the remaining broth and let it come to a boil as I peeled and diced potatoes.  I added them to the pot and again let the soup come to a boil before reducing the heat to medium low.  I let the soup simmer for 15 minutes, until the potatoes were fork tender.

Dice roasted turkey and add to pot.

While my soup gently bubbled away in the pot I diced the turkey breast into 1″ cubes.

Chop roasted chicken and add to pot.

I chopped the roasted chicken and added the meat to the pot when the potatoes were tender.  I didn’t want the meat to fall apart; I’d made that mistake before.  The turkey and chicken just needed to heat through.

Add frozen or canned corn to soup.

I also rummaged through the freezer for further additions and came up with a bag of corn I’d cut from the cob and frozen.

Add peas and carrots to soup pot.

I added the corn to the soup along with a half bag of frozen peas and corn.  I never add vegetables to potato soup, so I’d need a new name for this soup creation.  With the addition of both chicken and turkey, “fowl” was my obvious choice.  Fowl potato soup!

Heat soup through.

I taste tested my soup and it was definitely not “foul”!  These flavors were a home run!  (I know, I think I mixed puns back there but my mind was getting a bit soupy).  I added salt and pepper to taste.

Fowl Potato Soup

Dinner was served and the bowls of fowl potato soup were delicious.  The potatoes were softened and thickened the broth a bit, making it almost a chowder-like texture.  I thought to add cream or milk to make it a true chowder, but decided the flavors were perfect as they were.  The soup was even more delicious the next day, reheated.

Fowl, Not Foul Potato Soup

• Servings: 6 generous servings
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

A potato soup that is enhanced by turkey, chicken and vegetables.

• 6 strips thick sliced bacon; diced
• 1 cup onion; diced
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 teaspoon sage
• 6-7 cups potatoes; peeled and diced
• 1 cup roasted turkey breast; diced
• 1 cup roasted chicken; diced
• 2 cups whole kernel corn
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a soup pot brown the diced bacon until almost crispy. Add onion and fry several minutes until translucent.

Add a cup or so of broth to the pot and scrape the brown fond from the bottom. Add remaining broth, celery salt and sage and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and when soup again comes to a bubble, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until potatoes are beginning to be fork tender.

Add chicken, turkey, corn and peas and carrots. Increase heat to medium high and cook for several minutes until meat is heated through.

Taste test and add salt and pepper to taste.