Dill Pickle Soup

My friend loves everything pickles.  I always chuckle to hear her banter with my son who despises everything pickles.  They are at complete odds on the subject.  As I was having her over for Christmas time cheer and appetizers at my house, I decided to make this for her.  The recipe was very appealing actually...I added an onion as I just can't make a soup without one.  It is against all my principles not to as far as soup is concerned 😉.  I also added some dill and changed her preparation a bit to suit my needs.  The edits are below.

• 5-1/2 cups low sodium organic "Better than Bouillon"chicken stock
• 2 large russet potatoes, peeled and diced large
• Bunch of chopped wild carrots, small dice
• 1 small sweet onion, small dice
• 4 large  (50% less sodium) whole dills, diced (3 for soup, one sliced for garnish)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup 7% Milk Fat sour cream
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 cups 50% less sodium garlic dill pickle juice 
• 1-1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
• Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste 
• Cayenne pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill (one in soup and one for garnish)

Her recipe instructions were very easy.  I complicated them a little more by sauteing the onions and carrots first, to give a little more flavor.

I used the butter for this until they were soft.  I did this in my dutch oven.

I stirred in the flour, then cooked it out for a couple of minutes.  I then combined the broth, dill and potatoes.

I brought to a boil, then to a simmer, covered and cooked until the potatoes were tender, about 30 minutes. I stirred every 10 minutes while they were cooking.  It had thickened beautifully.  I wanted the taters to be falling apart and really soft so I mushed them a little with a potato masher.  At this point is was a delicious potato soup.  I could have stopped right there and been happy.

I added the pickles and brought back to a low boil.

I stirred the sour cream and water together, making a paste. I combined the sour cream mixture into the soup. I added the pickle juice, Old Bay, kosher salt, pepper and cayenne. I simmered 15 more minutes and remove from heat.

I got myself a bowl.  I was so excited!

I garnished with pepper, dill slices and finely chopped dill.  It was definitely dill pickle soup now.  It tasted very good.  The acidity and salt were okay and almost perfectly balanced.   Maybe I'd cut 1/2 cup of the pickle juice next time?  It took on a whole new flavor from where the potatoes ended - pickly, dilly, 😊.  I think some ham would have been wonderful in this.  Maybe next time...

When it cooled, I packaged some up in the pickle bottle for my friend to take home with her tomorrow.  With a bow of course!