Potato Leek Soup

My friend Deanna texted me Sunday asking if I would give her my potato leek soup recipe. I told her, “Of course,” as long as I wrote it down last time I made it. Forever I used to just cook and how I made something was never recorded. To me it did not matter if I ever made something the same way again. Then I started blogging and other people wanted to cook what I was making. That is when I started recording my recipes as I made them, otherwise they were lost forever.

I looked in my blog for the potato leek soup, but could not find it. So I had to recreate it so I could write it down. I served it for Mah Jongg lunch today just to kill two birds with one stone. So Deanna, this recipe is for you and you can always search for it on the blog now.

Potato Leek Soup

I like to eat this hot, but of course you can eat it cold.

3 leeks- just the white and light green parts, sliced very thin and soaked in cold water to remove grit

3 large cloves of garlic- minced

3 tablespoons of butter

4 large Yukon gold potatoes – peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks

Handful of fresh thyme stems with leaves on them tied into a bundle with kitchen string

Five cups of chicken stock

1/2 cup of heavy cream

Salt and Pepper

Put the butter in a stock pot and melt, add the leeks and garlic and cook on medium heat, stirring regularly for 5-7 minutes. The leeks should get to be very soft and wilt to about half their starting volume.

Add the potatoes, thyme bundle and the chicken stock which should cover the potatoes. Add more stock if needed. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer with lid on the pot, for about twenty minutes, until the potatoes are soft when stuck with a fork.

Remove from heat. Take the thyme bundle out and shake as many leaves off the stems as you can into the soup. Using an immersion blender, purée the soup. Add the cream and whirl a little more to incorporate it. Season with salt and pepper. It might take a lot of each depending

on how salty your stock was.

Serve with toasted bread croutons and minced chives.