Wednesday, December 10, 2008

My first potato leek soup

Did anyone else ever thinks leeks were some sort of legume?  I was shocked when a farmer recently handed me a bunch of leeks, and they looked like thick scallions. The word "leeks", to me, sounds like a bean. Apparently the rest of the world does not agree.

So I bought these beautiful leeks and Joe refused to let me use them for anything else besides potato leek soup. Soups aren't really my thing, but it's such a classic recipe that I decided to give it a shot. 

I realized, during my two hours of mindless slicing, dicing and peeling, how therapeutic this part of cooking really is. When you've got the time and you've got good music, I could dice and peel all day. Now, for some reason I felt like being an overachiever and decided to make a double batch on my first try, so everything below got doubled. (Totally useless when you're only cooking for 2 people. We now need a small army to come slurp the gallons of soup out of our fridge).

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 leeks, white and light green parts washed and sliced into 1/4 in. slices
2 c chopped yellow onion
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 cloves garlic, minced (I cheated and pulled from a giant tub of garlic in our fridge)
2 large Yukon gold potatoes (1 lb.), peeled and cubed into 1/2 in. cubes (Note: it is IMPORTANT to actually peel the potatoes. I was dealing with little Yukons and didn't peel them, and their skins kept getting caught in my blender).
2 c vegetable stock
2 c chicken stock
2-3 tsp fresh rosemary leaves

Directions: 
1. Heat soup pot over medium and add oil.
2. Add leeks, onion and sea salt. Saute for 5 minutes until onion turns translucent.
3. Add garlic and stir well. Cook for 1 more minute.
4. Add potatoes and stock, cover and boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Cook 20 minutes.
5. Remove from heat. Blend soup with rosemary leaves until smooth.

I recommend serving warm with a hard, crusty bread, like a day-old French baguette.

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