Friday, December 25, 2009

Potato Leek Soup

I did this the other day and only used 1/2 cup of cream. It could have been totally omitted and it still would have come out yummy and creamy.

4-5lbs of russet or creamers peeled
Chicken or veggie broth
1 large bunch of leeks
1 medium onion
1 medium shallot
3 cloves of garlic
3 table spoons of butter
2 bay leaves

Peel and cut your potatoes into 1/2 " cubes. Put them in a stock pot or dutch over and add just enough broth to cover them. Bring to a boil and the turn down to a medium simmer and cook until soft. Cut the bottom off of the leeks and cut in half length wise (top to bottom). Soak and separate in cool water to get rid of any remaining dirt. Cut them into a small dice from the bottom to about half way up the green part. Cut your onion, shallot, and garlic into a small dice.

Strain the potatoes making sure to reserve the cooking liquid. return your pot to the fire and add the butter, leeks, onion, shallot, garlic, and bay leaf. Sautee until limp and translucent. Return the potatoes and all but about 2 cups of the broth. Let this cook together for 20 mins stirring occasionally. Now you need to puree. You can work this in batches in your food processor on use and immersion/stick blender. If you use either of theses tools be sure and remove the bay leaf prior to pureeing. Or you can grab and old school whisk and get a good forearm work out which is what I did since I forgot to charge my stick blender.

Give it a good working over adding the reserved cooking liquid if it gets a little tight. This is when you can add the cream if you like or go without. There is enough residual starch from the potatoes to thicken it up. Garnish with chives or scallions and some crumbled bacon. A healthy dose of Parmesean run through a Microplane grater is also a good idea.

Mangia

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