Potato and Leek Soup

Leeks aren’t usually in my cooking repertoire. I am fascinated by them. I have cooked with red, sweet, white, green, and yellow onions as well as shallots, but haven’t had any experience with leeks until now. Of course, I looked up a recipe for suggestions. I credit Jenn Segal from onceuponachef.com for the inspiration and cooking directions. It’s an easy change of pace from every day, and we’ll have it again soon.

My friend, Rheta “poses” her grocery store leeks all over the house, and takes photos of them as she plays on words: under the sink,  near the faucets, and so on. I didn’t bother, I just loved how they looked at the store, so I bought them and now, they’re soup!

I looked up leeks in the Bible,  https://ww2.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/bible/leeks.php), and I got an eyeful. I won’t deliver a book report here, but it’s interesting if you want to read it.

I love soup all year ‘round, and I hope you do too. This is easy to prepare in a vegetarian or vegan way. You can replace the heavy cream with full fat coconut milk.

Potato and Leek Soup

Ingredients:

3-4 Leeks, chopped into 1/2 inch slices (Trim off root ends, wash the leeks, and only use the white and light green parts)

3 tablespoons Butter (unsalted)

3 cloves Garlic, peeled and smashed

2 pounds Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped into 1/2-inch pieces (I had Russets, so I used those)

4 cups Chicken or Vegetable Broth (I used Better than Bouillon Vegetable)

2 Bay Leaves

3 sprigs fresh Thyme (I left out)

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Ground Black Pepper to taste

1/2 to 1 cup Heavy Cream

Instructions:

Melt the butter over medium heat in a large pot. Add the leeks and garlic and cook, stirring regularly, until soft and wilted, about 10 minutes. Adjust the heat as necessary so they don’t brown. Add the potatoes, broth, bay leaves, (thyme), salt and pepper to pot and bring to a boil. Cover and turn the heat down to low. Simmer for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are very soft.

Remove thyme sprig and bay leaves, then purée the soup in a blender until smooth. Add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. If soup is too thin, simmer until thickened. If it's too thick, add water or stock to thin it out. Garnish with  chives if you like.