Fresh Herb, Potato and Leek Soup

The storm that blew into NYC over the weekend put a damper on the plans we had, which was a real bummer, but that aside, it was a pretty cool storm... that is, if you like snow, which I do, so all was right in the land of Deb. I didn't get to shovel, I actually like shoveling, but we decided it was a good idea I that passed on doing that for a while, I seem to be prone to slipping and falling. I did get to go for a cool walk and I took a few photographs, but I'm sorry to say I won't be posting them because I'm in another "I am not worthy" funk. Oh! how I suffer for my art.

I ate a fabulous breakfast both Saturday and Sunday and I can not say enough about it. It was so simple, so tasty and so easy to prepare I can't believe I don't eat it more often. I know you're dying to know what it was so I won't keep you in suspense any longer. I had...

TOAST!

Two slices of whole wheat bread toasted to golden perfection, spread liberally with salted European-style butter and blueberry preserves. Oh. MY. Somtimes the simplest things can be so wonderful, no? As I sat at the kitchen table drinking my coffee and eating my toast I marveled at how other people manage to keep the toast crumbs off the butter. I have never been able to do this. The butter knife slices into the crumb-free butter, this gets spread on the still warm toast and the knife gets coated in crumbs. I slice off another square of butter and darnit, crumbs get left behind. I suppose I could wipe off the knife before slicing into the butter again but that just seems so...tedious.

Ok, so I spent a little too much time marveling at toast... but we were SNOWBOUND, what else was I going to do? Actually, I did manage to tear myself away from the toast and the snow long enough to get myself back into the kitchen and do a little cooking. Nothing too fancy, just a simple yet delicious soup that helped me use up some potatoes that were beginning to cross over to the other side.

This was an easy soup, I was surprised at how little work was required. The most tedious part was cleaning the leeks and peeling and dicing the potatoes. The green color was a little bit of a surprise, my guess is, it came from the fresh herbs. The "base" recipe came from Epicurious but I did make a few of my own modifications. I added a couple of shakes of garlic powder and about 1/4 cup of dried onion to the soup. I used a little bit more cream than the recipe called for and added a tablespoon of butter too. I left out the tabasco and used a lot of fresh ground black pepper instead. I also chose to puree the soup completely rather than just puree 2 cups like the recipe suggested. Gotta love that immersion blender. The soup was really delicious and went well with fresh crusty Italian bread...I think, it probably would have gone very well with toast too.

Fresh Herb, Potato and Leek Soup

A creamy "comfort" soup that has plenty of richness without a lot of cream.

• 3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 5 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
• 3 cups water
• 3 large leeks (white and pale green parts only), chopped
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1/4 cup minced fresh chives or green onion tops
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh basil or 2 teaspoons dried, crumbled
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dillweed
• Hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)

Chopped fresh chives or green onion tops

Bring first 8 ingredients to boil in heavy large pot or Dutch oven over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are very tender and soup thickens slightly, about 1 hour. Transfer 2 cups of soup to blender and puree. Return puree to pot. Season with salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Reheat before continuing.)

Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with chopped chives and serve.

Makes about 12 cups.

Bon Appétit November 1992 Debbie Fleming: Townville, South Carolina Epicurious Food © 2003 CondéNet Inc. All rights reserved.

Written by Deb on December 7, 2003 09:36 PM