More Soup for you!

Potato and Leek to be specific.

I apologize for being so quiet and not writing much lately. Work and life have just been a little crazy.

So I guess I'm on some kind of soup kick since the last recipe I posted was for tomato soup. I found this soup recipe via Design*Sponge from the In The Kitchen With series. Giao Trac writes a blog called kiss my spatula with many wonderful homemade recipes. Here's Design*Sponge's background on Giao Trac:

"About Giao: Though Giao began her career as a management consultant for Fortune 500 clients, she’s always had a deep love for good design, and for good food. After pouring blood, sweat and tears into a two year design and remodel, Giao stepped foot into her new kitchen and never left. She began recreating her own version of restaurant favorites and whipping up homemade supermarket staples from scratch. Why go out to buy soy milk, goat cheese, baguettes, hummus, mustard or ketchup when you can make them in the comforts of home? Her food is simple, seasonal, local and organic whenever possible. She’s transferred her passion of interior design into web design and photography –with an etsy store and web design shop in the works, so stay tuned. Until then, she chronicles her homemade culinary adventures at Kiss My Spatula."

Umm homemade soy milk and mustard? Holy impressive. I figured I had check it out and noticed that many of her recipes are simple and easy to follow. I decided to try out her Market Day Potato and Leek Soup recipe and it was REALLY simple and really delicious.

Here's her recipe (I've noticed my minor changes):

Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh leeks (I wasn't sure how much 1 lb was so I chopped all 3 stalks of my leeks. That's just too much leek. I ended up setting aside about 1/3 of my bowl. Not sure what I'm gonna do with those leeks just yet)
• 1-1 1/2 lbs potatoes, diced
• 2 bay leaves
• 20 black peppercorns
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 5 cups organic chicken stock (I used vegetable stock for my vegetarian husband)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• plain yogurt
• parsley or chives

Method

The two main ingredients - potato and leek

Lots of Leeks (crappy pictures from my phone)

Halve the white portions of the leeks lengthwise and rinse under cold running water. Clean thoroughly. Slice thinly crosswise and set aside. Prepare bouquet garni by placing bay leaves, peppercorns and thyme together in a small piece of cheesecloth. Bundle and tie with string. Set aside. (I didn't have cheesecloth so I used these disposable tea bags that you can buy from Sur La Table. I just doubled the tea bags up and it worked just fine.)

In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Add the chopped leeks and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Add the reserved bouquet garni, chicken stock, potatoes, salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are falling apart.

Remove the bouquet garni. Working in small batches, puree the soup in a blender. Secure lid tightly and place towel over lid for extra protection. (I just used my handy dandy hand immersion blender. It works great and you don't have to wash the entire giant blender afterwards.) Stir in milk and adjust to taste. (I added much a decent amount more salt and some chili powder to add a little kick). Serve immediately with a big dollop of yogurt and chopped parsley/chives (I forgot the parsley/chives so it didn't look as pretty but was still really delicious).

The soup simmering on the stove (pre hand blender)

The soup. I didn't take a picture of mine cause my camera phone was full. Plus this turned out way prettier than mine :)

I paired the soup with some Pillsbury biscuits (yeah I'm classy like that) and I think dinner was a big hit.

The recipe was really easy to follow and it took me very little time to prepare. I think I'm definitely going to have to test some more kiss my spatula recipes this month.

Any recipes you are want to share?

More Soup for you!