Wednesday, 30 April 2014

Recipe: Potato and Leek Soup


With the colder weather starting, I'm beginning to crave heartier dishes. To me, there is something very homely and comforting about a bowl of soup. It's one of the most flexible and forgiving of dishes, can feed quite a number of people, uses minimal pots, and is handy for using up the vegetables that might not look so fresh anymore. Also great for when you're sick and want something quick and easy!

It might not be the fanciest of meals, but it's comforting and delicious. Also, it gives me an excuse to make some fresh bread to eat along with it, and quite frankly, besides new baby smell, fresh bread baking ranks right up there in my top smells ever list.

I thought I might do a series of posts about my favourite soups and how we consume them here at Chez Fork.  I've posted before about my take on a French onion soup, so without further ado, this time I bring you, potato and leek.

Ingredients:

Potatoes (I used 4 large ones)
1 leek
Vegetable Stock – about 6 cups worth. I use Vegeta stock powder to make it up
Salt and pepper to taste
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
Olive oil

Method:
  1. Wash and finely chop your leek. Discard the green parts (I do put a bit of them in for colour). 
  2. Peel and chop your potatoes into 2 inch pieces. 
  3. Start with a good lug of olive oil into your soup pot. Add the garlic and leek and saute until fragrant. 
  4. Add your potatoes and stock and simmer until the potatoes are cooked. You may want to use more or less stock, depending on how thick you want your soup. 
  5. Take the soup off the heat and blend, either using a stick blender, or in batches in a regular blender. 
  6. Return to the stove for a further 10 minutes and season to taste.

I like to serve this garnished with fresh spring onions, or even some fried onions, and a side of crusty bread. So good!

Potato and leek soup

Variations:

  • To make it extra fancy, you could add some white wine after sautéing the onion, and leek, and just saute a little longer to burn off the alcohol.
  • Of course, cook seasonally. If leeks aren't in season, a bunch of spring onions will do just as well as a substitute. Use as you would the leeks.

What's your favourite soup? 

1 comment:

  1. One of my favourites. I've been making loads of soups lately - will be adding this to the list :)

    ReplyDelete

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