Leek & potato soup is one of my staples. C&P here from my notes.
Serves two hungry people.
Ingredients
1tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic
250g leeks (one large leek per person for shopping purposes)
250g potatoes (again, one good-sized spud per person)
1 onion
500ml veggie stock (3x veggie OXO cubes will do)
black pepper
115ml milk
Method
Chop and wash the leeks. The easiest way I've found to chop them is to lop the dark green leafy bits off and then slice them lengthways twice, not quite to the end of the root. Then cut into 1cm pieces crossways. You need to wash the leeks as they tend to hold soil inside the layers, and you're not making leek and dirt soup. Peel and dice the onion, and finely chop or crush the garlic.
Melt the butter in a big pan on a medium heat. Add the onion / leek / garlic and fry gently for about ten minutes until the leeks are soft and buttery. Stir regularly, you don't want the oniony mix to stick or brown.
Whilst the leeks are cooking, peel and dice the spuds, about 1cm cubes is good. I've got a chip-making gadget which makes dicing a breeze.
When the leeks are softened, pour in the stock and add the spuds. Give it a generous twist of black pepper. Don't be shy, the nuttiness of the pepper is pretty much essential to this recipe. I don't believe it needs additional salt as the stock cubes are pretty salty in themselves, but if you're using different stock then you might need salt at the stage. Use common sense here, you can add more salt when serving but if there's too much you can't take it out again.
Turn up the heat to bring the soup up to simmering point, then reduce it so that it's simmering gently rather than boiling like mad. Leave it to simmer for about 20 minutes, till the spuds are softened through. Stir regularly so that it cooks evenly and doesn't stick.
A couple of minutes before it's done, add the milk. If you're using creamy milk you might need to let it cool a little first to avoid it curdling; I use skimmed so it's never been a problem just to slap it in. If you're going to liquidise it, do it now whilst the temperature's reduced. Personally I think it's better to leave it chunky. Bring it back up to temperature, stirring to avoid a skin forming, then serve with warm crusty bread.
Nom.
) sliced.
