Thursday, January 10, 2008

Dinner Is Served

Tuesday night I made soup for dinner. Nothing is easier and more satisfying than a good bowl of potato soup. You can have this on the table in about 30 minutes start to finish! This is a fairly traditional and straight forward recipe that relies on both leeks and cream to add to both the depth of flavor and texture of the soup. All you dieters out there can follow my modifications but should note that in the overall scheme of the whole recipe the fat content is not mind blowing and the flavors really are enhanced by the cream.

Potato Leek Soup
1 Qt Chicken Broth (I like to use an Organic Boxed Broth) may need 1 c more (can use water)
2 lb Yukon Gold Potatoes (4 large), peeled and given a large dice
1 Bunch Leeks( 3 stalks), slice the white ends and then wash in a bowl of water to remove sand
2 T Butter
2 t Olive Oil
1/4 c Heavy Cream (optional... but worth it)
salt (about 1 t)
pepper (about 1/2 t)


Place butter and oil in the bottom of a soup pot***. Melt over medium heat. Add leeks and saute until leeks have wilted. Add potatoes and pour Chicken Broth just to tops of potatoes (about 3 cups). Bring mixture to a simmer and season with 1/2 t of salt. Simmer until potato chunks are fork tender (this will depend on size... but about 15-20 mins). Turn off heat and blend soup until smooth with an immersion blender.** Thin soup to desired consistency with remaining/additional chicken stock (approx 1 cup). Return soup to a low simmer correct seasoning with approximately 1/2 t additional salt and 1/4-1/2 t ground pepper. Stir in !/4 c heavy cream (this adds both a richness of flavor but also a smoothness to the texture of the soup)* and serve.


This makes 6 hearty servings (1.5-2 c) at 276 calories and 8 g of fat in each.


*************************************************
Cooking Notes:

*You could also add in 1/4 c of milk (not skim) or a tablespoon or two of butter if you'd like to lower the fat and calories. If you are being really diet conscious you can leave out all additions and just serve it as is... still good!

**If you don't have an immersion blender fear not. You can blend this soup in a traditional blender (this will probably need to be done in two batches). Remember when blending hot liquid that you must keep the hole in the lid OPEN (cover with a dish cloth) to let the heat escape!!! Return soup to pot and continue with recipe.

***Butter has a low smoking point. If you want to saute something in butter (for the flavor) without having your butter brown on you add a little oil (canola or olive) with a higher smoking point.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

This sounds awesome! I'll have to try and make this next week. Stupid question. Is an immersion blender a hand held thing like a milk shake maker?

Anonymous said...

Nevermind. I googled it and found out I actually have one. WOOHOO! :)

Mrs Furious said...

Yes... I was going to put a link in there but then forgot. Much easier if you have one... soup goes from start to finish in under 30 minutes.

Anonymous said...

Yah! The recipe. I'm going to try it this weekend. Can't wait. Thanks for posting the recipe. :)

Mrs Furious said...

Chrissy,
You are welcome :)

it really is quite good with the cream so I strongly recommend using it!!

HC said...

Mmmmm...I think I'll make that tomorrow night. It looks like it will go well with the soft pretzels I'm going to try to bake...fingers crossed.

emmyjw said...

looks really yummy and comforting, I think I'll try it tomorrow! I can't get that dang video to play on here or on you tube, stupid computer... I have made my own personal visit to crazy town this week, same scenario: lack of sleep + too much to do+ PMS = YIKES! get out while you still can!!!! Anyways, the soup sounds like it would make me feel better, especially with some home made bread and a nice salad. UGH, time to hit the road for karate again.

Mrs Furious said...

Haley,
I have yet to have ever tried making soft pretzels... that would be a good activity with Kid.



Emmy,
sorry you're in my same boat :(
I'm hitting the wall again today... Baby is still not sleeping!!!
I can't get the videos to play either. I'm trying not to get too frustrated about it since I'm already on edge ;) Check it tomorrow sometimes it seem to just take forever!
I'm baking bread right now to have with the leftovers. You'll probably need to double that recipe for your brood.

HC said...

I'll let you know how the pretzels turn out...I'm a bit spkeptical but who knows.

Does this soup freeze/reheat well? I'm thinking I'll only make half otherwise since it just two of us chowing down.

Mrs Furious said...

Haley,
I haven't frozen it but I don't see why you can't. I would make it through the added broth take out what you want to freeze and then finish it with the cream before you eat it (when you reheat it that is) but I'm not even sure that is necessary.

Vanessa said...

That looks awesome!

Robin said...

Mmmm, I love potato soup. I've never had leeks, but I will give it a try.

We had the brown sugar, ginger salmon tonight. So yummy! Everyone enjoyed it, even Kent (who has been terribly picky recently.) Although he wanted mustard on his. Whatever. He ate it. Kara really liked it too. She kept pointing and babbling at it. Next time I make it I will try the carrots with it. I don't like cooked carrots, but will try the recipe anyway. Thanks so much for posting them.

I posted an after haircut pic on my blog. :)

MommyTime said...

For anyone interested in homemade pretzels, may I recommend this post on Smitten Kitchen? I can't wait to try it!

Robin said...

Mrs. F,
I just watched your latest videos.

1) re: a break from the blog. Please do! You have enough stress right now without putting pressure on yourself about the blog. We will live, and we will be here.

2) re: hair video. I'm so sorry Baby woke up. I hate that feeling. You think you are going to get a break and boom, cranky baby. I really empathize.

Mrs Furious said...

Robin,
You've never had leeks?!? Oh you'll like them.

and I have a second part to the video (hair) she ended up going back down I'm uploading it now and will hopefully post them tomorrow.

as for the blog... I just really need to figure out how to handle this many comments and still be a normal person!

Mrs Furious said...

MommyTime,

I love (or did when I had time) reading her blog. Beautiful food photography. And I envy her free time.

Anonymous said...

Girl please! Don't you know Potato Soup is supposed to have ham and cheese in it? Leeks? What are you trying to make it healthy? Blech! That is one soup I'm totally sticking with my recipe for.

You know I still love you though! :)

Last night I made a homemade Turkey Noodle Soup using leftover Thanksgiving turkey with broth I made from the bones (I had frozen all this. It's not like it's been sitting in my fridge since November). It was DELISH and healthy! Everybody loved it!

If you're looking for a good pretzel recipe, I have one on my site in the October archives. They really were great!

Mrs Furious said...

Tina,
LOL.
Potato Leek soup is whole different beast from potato and ham soup. It is not healthy... it's french!

Jaime said...

Bionicwoman runs off to add immersion blender to her wish list...

:)

Mrs Furious said...

Bi0nicw0man,
I have the kitchenaid one but it has a whisk attachment and a little mini food processor attachment.... GET IT. For the whisk alone!! Fantastic.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully you'll see this even though it's ages since this post...

But we made this tonight and it is absolutely wonderful! Thanks again for the recipe.

Mrs Furious said...

Michelline,
I got an email with every comment... so I never miss one on an older post!

I'm so glad you guys liked it! Yay!

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