As my cousin said, “very flavorful and not too rich”
A soup before a meal really does not, and should not, have to be heavy and rich. You want to finish your soup feeling satisfied and ready for your main entree.
I made this soup for a private dinner party that I catered. My ABSOLUTE favorite part of catering is working with clients to come up with a wonderful, creative, seasonal menu.
This party’s menu was particularly lovely.
Appetizers:
Buckwheat blini with smoked trout and creme fraiche (recipe)
Baked dates filled with cevre and wrapped in bacon (recipe)
Crostini with Grilled Radicchio in a balsamic dressing topped with shaved Parmigiano
First Course:
Potato leek soup
Main:
New York Steaks (from Prather Ranch)
Point Reyes Blue Cheese Butter
French Fries
Steamed Artichoke with lemon and thyme
Dessert:
Flourless Chocolate Cake
(I’ll work on posting the wonderful recipes)
I chose this soup because it does not call for cream, unlike a lot of potato leek soups. I think cream can make recipes too rich and fillling, not what i was looking to do here.
Adapted from Simple Recipes
This recipe can easily be doubled, tripled…
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
3 Large Leeks, cut lengthwise, white and light green parts only, chopped
2 T butter
2 cups water
2 cups chicken broth (I used vegetarian, hey, why not!?)
2 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 t fresh thyme, chopped
salt and pepper
Cook leeks in the butter with salt and pepper
(funny side note, I forgot I added pepper and thought that it was dirt from the leeks not being washed well enough! duh!)
Cook until nice and tender- About 10 minutes- DO NOT brown the leeks. Browning will give the leeks a burnt flavor.
In a stockpot add the water and broth. I then added the potatoes as I was peeling and chopping- keeping them from turning brown.
Scrape all the leeks and their juices into the stockpot of broth and potatoes
Bring to a low simmer and cok for 20 minutes.
I used a hand blender to puree the soup. You can control the chunkyness… I pureed it completely because I didn’t want any chunks… up to you though.
Add the parsley and thyme and some fresh pepper (not dirt) and salt to taste.
Croutons:
Preheat 425
Find the hearty-est bread you can
Cut into even cubes
toss with olive oil, garlic oil and salt and pepper
Bake on a cookie sheet, tossing frequently, 15 minutes
