Leeks from the garden: Minimalist Leek and Potato Soup
The veggie garden is looking a little sad at this stage in the year. Just a few scraggly kale plants, as-yet-unformed purple sprouting broccoli – but we still have some leeks, when we remember to cook them! We’ve recently been having a cold snap so I’ve been making lots of soups and, one day when I happened to remember that we still had to use up the leeks in the garden and actually had some potatoes in the house, I made a version of Clothilde’s minimalist Leek and Potato Soup, which she in turn had adapted from Sophie Brissaud‘s recipe.
As I was just after a stock-making session, I used chicken stock as well as water in the soup for more depth of flavour, and finished it off with dollops of ever-present yoghurt. This is very much an approximation of the recipe – I just didn’t want to get out the weighing scales!
Minimalist Leek and Potato Soup
Leeks – 4, freshly pulled from your garden, preferably!
Potatoes – 4 medium sized floury potatoes. I used Roosters
Chicken Stock – 2 cups (or just substitute water)
Fine sea salt, freshly ground pepper
Natural yoghurt, to serve
Clean, trim and thinly slice the leeks, keeping the green parts separate. Peel and dice the potatoes. Place the white parts of the leeks and the diced potatoes with the chicken stock and two cups of water into a heavy based saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer, season, cover and cook for 30 minutes, until the potatoes are beginning to disintegrate and the leeks are soft.
Using a stick blender – the simplest option! – or liquidiser, blend the soup until smooth. Season to taste and heat until simmering again. Add the thinly sliced green parts of the leek, cover and remove from the heat. After five minutes, ladle it into bowls and serve with a little natural yoghurt swirled through the soup.
Serves 4.
