For January, the month of leeks, we wanted to make at least one traditional leek recipe. The first thing that came to mind was, of course, potato leek soup. But which recipe to make? My mother solved the problem by offering to send me her Memere’s (my Grand-memere’s) potato leek soup recipe. She told me, “I can still remember how she loved it!” I said “Yes please!”
There is something elegant about how simple this recipe is. Its ingredients are leeks, potatoes, split peas, carrots, butter, salt and pepper, and water. That’s all. (Although, I did end up using regular frozen peas because they were already in the house)
Per my Grand-memere’s instructions, I used every part of the leek, even the dark green slightly tougher and more bitter sections. I never met my Grand-memere, but I think we’d have gotten along just fine in the kitchen.
Like most delicious foods, you start with butter. Now might be a good time to point out that I finally bought my own dutch oven. EXCELLENT decision. Let me tell you. Look how happy and red it is!
Add your leeks…
…Cook until soft.
Add potatoes, carrots, and peas.
Add water, salt and pepper, and let it simmer for an hour. The directions didn’t really say how much water to add, so I guessed. Turns out I guessed too little and ended up needing to add a little chicken broth at the very end.
It was tough letting this simmer for a whole hour. It smelled delicious and my roommates kept begging me to let them try some, but I stood firm. The final step was to puree until smooth. My new favorite kitchen tool – my immersion blender – handled the puree business like a champ. Seriously, you need an immersion blender. It’s the best thing you never thought you wouldn’t be able to live without. Get one.
There was one mishap. My new dutch oven apparently heats so evenly, and retains heat SO WELL, that the pureed soup mixture had a tendency to explode when uncovered. That is how I ended up with green soup on the ceiling. See my bewilderment in the photo above.
This was flavorful, filling, and full of (mostly) good for you ingredients. I topped with a little greek yogurt and paprika just for fun.
[addtoany] Yum