Rustic Potato Leek Soup

After my folks were here for the weekend, I ended up with a leftover leek and some potatoes, so I decided to make soup. Incidentally, I always put leeks sauteed in butter in my mashed potatoes for special occasions. SO good.

Anyway, my soup adventure started with cleaning and chopping the leek. This resulted in streams of tears running down my face. I have never before experienced leeks that made me cry like onions! See those pesky suckers above on the right. I made it through, but it was rough.

Once I had the offensive leek chopped, the rest of the soup came together brilliantly and relatively quickly. The leftovers also froze really well (don't add cream before you freeze). Leeks and potatoes are such a perfect couple...like Fred and Ginger or Bert and Ernie. I served with leftover No Knead Bread for a delightful light supper which we were able to eat out on our porch. Quite a nice cap to an otherwise blah Monday, though it just seems wrong that we can eat on our (unheated) porch in November.


Rustic Potato Leek Soup

This recipe is the love-child of The New Best Recipe and Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food.

6 good sized servings

1 big leek or 2 small leeks, white and light green parts only, washed well and chopped
2T butter or extra virgin olive oil
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1.5 lbs of potatoes, coarsely diced (I oppose peeling potatoes generally, but you can if you want)
5-6 c of broth or water
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
optional: 1/3 c heavy cream or evaporated milk

Melt the butter over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the leeks, thyme and bay. Add a fair dusting of salt. Saute until the leeks soften, about 10 minutes. Add the potatoes, salt them and cook for about 4 minutes. Add the broth/water and bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are tender, but not quite mushy, about 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and the thyme sprigs. Using either an immersion blender in the pot or ladling the soup into a blender in batches, puree about half of the soup and return the puree to the pot. Stir in the cream if desired, taste the soup and add salt and pepper until it is just right. You can see in the photo that my soup had a little bit of pepper and red sea salt as a "garnish" (really, it was because I didn't put enough in the soup before I served it!)

Enjoy! This is especially good sopped up with delicious warm bread.