Leek and Potato

Leek and Potato Soup

I think we can establish that I like soup and I am always trying to find lovely new broth like constructions. This however is a classic and you can find it in so many different guises that it may well be the most chameleonic soup ever. I've seen it dried as instant soup, tinned, in fancy cardboard cartons (from that well known soup company) and in the fancy plastic pots from the supermarket. In one well known supermarket, they brand it as Leek and Maris Piper Soup, ('This is not just soup, this is hideously overpriced soup.' Imagine a woman on the verge of orgasm saying this, whilst Santana plays in the background.) which makes me laugh without fail. Some things don't need to be fancified, and are best left the way they began. I'm all for old, maligned dishes getting a resurgence, but sometimes it goes too far. Much the same with bread and butter pudding being bandied around by chefs in the big restaurants. The way they were talking you'd think they'd invented the bloody thing.

Anyway, rant over. Here's some soup:

Ingredients

2 leeks, washed and cut into 1cm dice

1 onion, 1cm dice

2 large potatoes, 1cm dice (no need to peel, just clean)

500mls vegetable stock

Milk

Streaky bacon, cut in to strips or lardons (optional)

Sweat the onion until it is soft, but do not let it colour. If you put salt onto the onions it will stop them browning as it draws out the water. If you want to use bacon, cook it along with the onions. Once the onion is soft, add the leeks and sweat them off, but they do cook quickly as they are so thin so keep an eye on it. Once the leeks are nicely soft, add the cubes of potatoes and mix together before adding the stock. Bring all this to the boil then allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the potatoes are cook through. Add extra water if you feel it's getting a little low on liquid, but you should be fine. Once it's all cooked through, take it off the heat and blitz it using a liquidiser or hand blender, until it is thick and creamy. Add some milk, as much as you need or want, until you get the consistency you like best. Put it back on the heat and let simmer for a couple of minutes.

This is lovely served with a bit of double cream swirled into it (I admit I think everything is nice with double cream.) or crème fraiche if you're being more health conscious. And of course, it's necessary and possibly even legally mandatory to serve this with delicious crusty bread, slathered with butter. Hey, calorie counting is not my strong point!