The Adventures of Croissant and Bagel

Potato and Leek soup August 23, 2009

P and I went out for dinner the other night and rather ambitiously ordered the degustation. It was good because I got to try things I ordinarily wouldn’t have ordered (even if there was more food than I knew what to do with). One of these things was potato and leek soup. We don’t eat a lot of soup, except perhaps pumpkin but after this I decided we were missing out. This soup is a healthier recreation of the one we had. It was hard to imitate the flavour of about 2 cups of cream and copious amounts of butter while still keeping it heart friendly, so I didn’t really try. The end result was still creamy and tasty without being (too) unhealthy. After all, if you are going to blow your health regime you may as well do it on something more exciting than soup. Like cake.

Potato and Leek soup

• 1 brown onion (chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
• 2 leeks (green removed, white chopped)
• 1 tsp cumin
• Salt and pepper
• 6 potatoes (peeled and chopped into quarters)
• 2.5 cups vegetable stock
• 1 tin evaporated milk
• Chopped parsley

1. Fry up onion and leeks in 2 tbsp olive oil until they begin to soften (5+ minutes)
2. Add garlic, salt, pepper and cumin and continue frying for a few more minutes.
3. Add vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Add potato and reduce heat to a simmer. Cover.
4. When vegetables have softened, use an immersion blender to puree the mixture.
5. Pour in the evaporated milk and leave to simmer until the correct consistency.
6. Correct seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary. Serve with chopped parsley.

I pureed the soup until it was very smooth because I wanted a very liquid consistency. I also pureed it again the next day while I was reheating it because it thickens overnight. I used pink skinned potatoes.