I have to admit, I don’t think I had ever a) tasted, or b) cooked leek and potato soup until just a few years ago. I’m not actually sure I’d ever had a leek before then! But my friends whom I gardened with raved about leek season, and about the soup in particular, and finally I got up the interest/nerve/time to try it. Or to look at recipes, at least!
Some recipes I like:
Alton Brown’s Leek Potato Soup Recipe
New York Times Golden Leek and Potato Soup
Serious Eats’ Food Lab: Potato and Leek Soup
I don’t know what I’d been waiting for, honestly! It was really fast and delicious. You can make it quite creamy or less so, but it doesn’t require any sort of fussing-over or precise measurement. Just cook and blend, and you can toss it in the freezer for later.
A basic ratio to use for this soup is 1 # leeks, 1 # potatoes (yukon gold or russets, or a combination of both), a knob of butter, 1 c. heavy cream (or half and half, or not), 1 qt chicken or veg stock, and some herbs (bay, or parsley/celery, or chives, though a touch of nutmeg can also be delicious!).
On our Facebook Live video, we used:
- 822g of yukon gold potatoes,
- 700g of leeks, and
- about 3T of butter,
- a quart of chicken stock,
- salt and pepper to finish
No cream! We’ll freeze this, as it made about 6 qts? of soup – which is more than we can eat in the next few days!
When we thaw and re-heat it, I’ll probably add about 1c of milk or 1/2 c of half & half and 1/2 c. of water to thin it a bit.