Baked Potato Soup with a Smoked Salmon Twist!

Tonight I made Baked Potato Soup — but instead of adding your usual bacon/cheese combination, I decided to use up a pound of smoked salmon we had.
Surprisingly, it was DELICIOUS! I had read that you can substitute smoked salmon for bacon, and its actually true!

This is the original recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Potato-Soup/Detail.aspx
And here’s how mine turned out…

First, my changes:
– Made it for 8 servings (versus the original 4 servings), so we’d be sure to have leftovers
– Added 1 lb. smoked salmon
– Left the skins on my potatoes — I like them that way
– The original recipe called for hot sauce…hate the stuff, so I left it out

I did have bacon and cheese for garnish, because I was concerned I wouldn’t like the salmon flavor. Honestly, you could do without them.

Baked Potato Soup with Smoked Salmon
6 bacon strips – diced
2 small onion – chopped
2 cloves garlic – minced
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon pepper
6 cups chicken broth
4 large baked potatoes – cubed
2 cups half-and-half cream
1 pound fully cooked smoked salmon
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Minced fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS
In a large pan, cook bacon until crisp. Drain the bacon, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cream, and salmon. Heat through but do not boil.
Garnish with bacon, cheese and parsley.

Prior to garnish:

After DH got ahold of the toppings: