Slice up leeks (white and light green parts) and a few cloves of garlic. Peel and cube potatoes (fairly small) and rinse in cold water. Take out about a third of the potatoes and boil them in a separate pot until just tender and set aside. In a soup pot, add a little olive oil and a couple tablespoons of butter until melted, add the leeks and garlic and sauté. You will want to cook the leeks until they are starting to brown and get melty.
Then add the uncooked potato cubes, salt, pepper and a couple cups of vegetable broth mixed with a couple cups of water, a couple bay leaves and leaves from a few sprigs of fresh thyme.
Bring to boil and turn down heat to a simmer. Add a splash or so of dry sherry if you have some. Boil until potatoes get very tender- where you can mash them on the side of the spot with a wooden spoon. Find and remove the bay leaves. Now you can puree this mixture with an immersion blender. If don't don't have one of these (and I highly recommend buying one because of its immense value), you can puree in a regular blender but be very careful blending hot liquids, be sure to work in small batches and allow steam to escape.
After you puree the mixture return to low heat and add the other third of the boiled potatoes to give the soup some texture and add about a cup of whole milk/half-and-half mixture (or heavy cream if you like). Let warm up again but do not boil. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper and add more liquid if you want a thinner consistency.
I serve this with toppings such as chopped chives and cheese. You can even make it more substantial with some grilled sausage- which goes very well with this soup.
And it's a great meal to eat by a nice fire on a chilly Fall evening.
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