So my dear wife said last weekend, "I would love a bowl of Potato Leek Soup". So off I went to the market to get my usual groceries for the week and looked for Potato Leek Soup. I didn't find anything worth buying so I looked on my phone for recipes and they all came back very busy. How difficult could it be? really? it's potato and leeks. There is the creamy factor but I wanted to stay away from Dairy. So I bought a 2 lbs. bag of small baby yukon Gold Potatoes, 4 Leeks. I knew I had crushed garlic at home and got some Chicken Broth.
So home I went. I cut off the dark green leafy portions of the leeks and cut off the end part. I split the four leeks in half lengthways and ran them under cold water to get them nice and dirt free. Then I chopped them up real fine and put them aside.
Then I boiled up those baby potatoes till they were soft. I'd say about 20 min.
I went downstairs to my fridge and got a very healthy (or unhealthy, depends on how you look at it) spoonful of bacon fat.
May I step away for a moment and make a request of all of you people who enjoy cooking. The next time you have Salsa that is in a glass jar, clean it and save it. then when you cook bacon, take the drippings from the pan and pour the in this glass jar and put them in the fridge. Then use it when you want to add a little kick to your dishes instead of butter or oil. Trust me. You'll be happy you have this jar of gold.
Ok, so I got my spoonful of bacon fat and put it into my stock pot and let it quickly melt away. When it got good and hot, I added my leeks and sautéed them till they were nice and soft. Then I added the garlic and sautéed them for another minute or so till it was fragrant.
Pretty huh? and it smelled good too. So all the veggies were nice and soft. I added 2 quarts of Chicken broth and brought it to a boil.
When it was good and warm, I added the potatoes and let them get warm in broth. When all was good and warm I brought out the magic wand. I love this tool. I ground up all the potatoes and leeks till it was nice and almost smooth.
I was looking for a thick soup but without the cream and without the gritty feel. So I broke out my sieve. I spooned soup from the pot it was in through the sieve and into another pot. I made sure I got out as much soup as possible.
What I had below the sieve was a silky smooth soup that actually shimmered a reflection off the top. Very cool to look at. But I wanted it thicker. Now many recipes call for milk, cream, half and half at this time. But i wanted the creaminess without the cream. So the soup was filled with starchy goodness from the potatoes so I just simmered it till it reduced to a nice consistency. remember to keep stirring the pot and scrapping the bottom so that you don't burn the soup.
When your all done there is so much you can do here. We chose to just eat it as is. But you can drizzle olive oil or flavored oil on top. you can add a protein like shrimp or lobster to it. Put what in it you want to have. Sky is the limit. oooh maybe some thick bacon pieces next time. Yeah, now I'm thinking .
Hope you enjoy yours.
