|     |  

Potato leek soup #1

This is a new recipe for potato leek soup, based more or less on my recipe for corn chowder or clam chowder . I really like it.

Serves 2, multiply as necessary.

1 tbsp. butter 1 tbsp. olive oil 1/2 onion, chopped 1 stalk celery, chopped 1 small carrot, chopped 2 leeks, white part, minced (1 to 3, depending on size) 1 garlic clove, minced 1/2 slice cooked bacon, chopped (optional) 2 tbsp. flour 12 oz. water 1 tbsp. More Than Gourmet roasted chicken stock concentrate small potato, peeled and diced 4 oz. heavy cream salt freshly ground white pepper dash of Tabasco sauce (optional)

Here are the veggies prepped and ready to go.

Add the butter and oil to a soup pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes.

Add the celery, carrot, garlic and bacon and cook for a few more minutes.

Add the 2 tbsp. flour and cook for 5 minutes, stirring periodically. In the chowder recipes I use 1/8 cup of flour, but I wanted this soup to be a little thinner.

Add 12 oz. water and the 1 tbsp. More Than Gourmet roasted chicken stock concentrate to the pot. Or substitute vegetable broth or chicken broth. Bring to a boil.

Add the potatoes and leeks and bring back to a boil, then reduce the heat to a very slow boil. Cook for 15 minutes.

Add the 4 oz. of cream and cook for 3 minutes.

Season with salt and freshly ground white pepper. Add a few dashes of Tabasco sauce, if desired.

Serves 2.

Some the recipes I looked at blend the soup at the end, either with an immersion blender, blender or food processor. I prefer this soup with the vegetables intact, however. And it was delicious!

There are several options:

Vegetarian: Omit the bacon and use vegetable broth.

Vegan: Omit the butter, bacon and use vegetable broth. Omit the cream, of course, but the soup will still be pretty good because of the roux.

Gluten-free: Substitute another thickener for the flour, or serve as a thinner soup.

Update January 26, 2015: Surprisingly, this soup is not bad frozen. I vacuum sealed and froze it, then later defrosted it in a bowl of cold water. I reheated it in a sauce pan on the stove. The potatoes were a little softer than when it was fresh, but still held together and it wasn't bad.

  |     |