entertaining by the bay

casual cooking and living

Potato Soup with Small Dumplings

There is nothing better on a blustery cold day then a warm bowl of soup. I have fond memories of my grandmother taking out her dutch oven on such days and making this soup from the staples she always had in her pantry. Her original recipe didn't include the bacon. I happened to have some bacon leftover in the fridge and decided to use it. You could just as easily not use the bacon and just throw all the ingredients for the soup into the pot and simmer away, making this about as easy as any soup you could make. If you are feeling up for it by all means take the extra steps to fry the bacon and saute your onions and celery, the results were delicious. What really makes this potato soup so magnficent to eat, is not the bacon, it's the dumplings you simmer into the soup at the end. Again, these are no fail dumplings just stir and drop into the hot soup to simmer into yummy small white balls soaked with the flavor of the soup. It's the perfect comfort food to warm you from the harsh cold of winter.

Potato Soup with Small Dumplings
Serves 6

Ingredients for soup
4 ounces thick bacon, chopped
6 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
5 cups water
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
3-4 cloves
optional: chopped parsley for garnish

Ingredients for drop dumplings
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Directions
In a Dutch oven cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon with slotted spoon onto paper towel and set aside. In the bacon fat saute the celery and onion until softened. Add the potatoes, water, salt, pepper and cloves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour or until vegetables are tender. Remove the cloves out of the soup. With a potato masher, puree most of the vegetables. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. If the soup is too thick for your preference you can add some water and continue to simmer. To make the dumplings, combine the egg, water, salt and flour mixing until smooth. Drop by teaspoonfuls into the boiling soup. Cover and simmer until the dumplings are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Garnish with chopped parsley and crisp bacon pieces.