Joyeux Kitchen: Emeril's Root Vegetable Chowder

My one and only Emeril recipe!  He's amazing but his recipes are usually so fussy and time consuming; this one is fast and the ingredients are totally accessible.  It's Doug's favorite dinner, he lovingly refers to it as 'that bacon soup'.  Some notes:  1) I can't stress enough how important really good, smoky bacon is.  I used cheap bacon the second time I made it and we were SO disappointed.  It was edible, but with good bacon it's divine.  2) Emeril recommends garnishing this with fried beet chips.  I've never seen fried beet chips for sale anywhere; I suppose Emeril made his own but I just served it with the dinner rolls from last week's recipe.

You'll Need:

• 3/4 lb. GOOD bacon, julienned
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup small diced carrot
• 1 cup small diced (I actually shred these) parsnips
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 6 bay leaves
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup diced sweet potatoes (I omit these, Doug won't eat 'em)
• 1/4 lb. new potatoes, quartered (I double this to make up for the left-out sweet potatoes)
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
• 1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce (Tabasco)
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

In a hot stockpot, render the bacon for 5 minutes.  Add the onions, celery, carrots, and parsnips.  Saute for 10 minutes or until the veggies are soft and wilted.  Season with salt and cayenne.  Add the bay leaves.  Stir in the flour and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally (really watch it, it's no good if it burns on the bottom).  Stir in the chicken stock.  Add all the potatoes.  Bring the liquid up to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.  Stir in half-and-half, parsley, hot pepper sauce (more if you like it spicy), and Worcestershire sauce.  At this point I usually cover and continue to let it simmer until we're ready to eat, no need to serve immediately.  Delish!