After Thanksgiving I had leftover potatoes that didn’t make it into the pot for mashed potatoes and leftover leeks that didn’t make it into the stuffing. I wanted something simple for dinner after such a big week of cooking for the holiday, so using these leftover ingredients and grabbing a fresh loaf of sourdough I made potato leek soup.
Mise en place, which means everything in its place, or gather and measure all your ingredients.
After dicing the potatoes and onions and slicing the white parts of the leeks I put a pot over medium-high heat with a tbsp of olive oil. Then I added the onions and leeks to the pot and sweat until the onion was translucent.
Side note: I absolutely LOVE the smell of cooking leeks and onion!
Next I added 2tbsp. of cornstarch to the leeks and onions, this will help to thicken the soup, and then deglazed with a dry Sauvignon Blanc, another dry white wine could be substituted.
I then added my potatoes and chicken broth to the pot. I then added salt and pepper to the pot because everyone should ALWAYS season everything.
Once the potatoes are cooked through I pulled out my blender and very carefully ladled hot soup into the blender. I start by blending ore potatoes and leeks and less broth so I can adjust the consistency as I go. I did not end up using all of the broth this time.
Once the soup was blended to the consistency I wanted, it went into another pot over medium-low heat.
Then I tempered my cream. Tempering cream means that it’s being brought up to temperature so it doesn’t curdle or separate when added to the dish. So in a separate bowl I poured cream then, while whisking, I slowly ladled the hot soup into the cream. After a few ladles the cream was hot and could be whisked into the pot of soup.
At this point I tasted and added more salt and pepper to taste.
To add some texture and a yummy topping to the soup I reserved a few slices of leek, dusted them in cornstarch, and very quickly fried in vegetable oil.
Salt the leeks after frying.
Recipe
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Finish: 10 minutes
Stovetop
- 2 Leeks, whites only
- 1 Lg sweet onion
- 1tbsp. Olive oil
- 2tbsp. Cornstarch
- 1c. Dry white wine
- 4 Lg russet potatoes
- 4c. Chicken or vegetable broth
- 1c. Heavy cream
- Salt TT
- Pepper TT
- Slice leeks and dice onion.
- Heat olive oil in large pot over medium-high heat.
- Add the onions and leeks and sweat until onion is translucent.
- Stir cornstarch into onions and leeks.
- Deglaze the pot with white wine.
- Add the potatoes and broth to the pot.
- Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
- Blend soup until smooth, be careful not to add too much broth, you may not use it all to reach the desired consistency.
- Temper cream into soup.
- Salt and pepper to taste (TT).
Under the Knife 