Leek and Potato Soup
Four ingredients, twenty minutes on the stove, and better than almost anything more complicated. The soup to know by heart.
Photograph credit: Leek and potato soup with parsley - Credit to http://homedust.com/ by Homedust · CC BY 2.0 · Flickr
Where This Goes Wrong
No colour on the leeks. Browning makes it bitter and beige.
Floury potatoes. Waxy ones blend to glue.
Thirty seconds in the blender, no more.
Cooking Leek and Potato Soup
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Melt the butter in a heavy pan, add the leeks and a pinch of the salt, cover and sweat over low heat 10 minutes, until limp but not coloured.
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Add the potatoes and turn them in the butter for 2 minutes.
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Pour in the stock, add the rest of the salt and bring to a simmer.
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Cook 20 minutes, until the potato falls apart against the side of the pan.
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Blend for no more than 30 seconds, until smooth but not gluey.
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Stir in the cream and the white pepper and warm through without boiling.
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Serve with chives scattered over.
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Why It Works
Sweat the leeks in butter with a lid on and no colour at all — ten minutes, over low heat, until they are limp and sweet. Browned leeks give the finished soup a slightly bitter, oniony edge and the colour goes from pale green to beige. Use floury potatoes, not waxy: floury ones disintegrate and thicken the soup, waxy ones stay in lumps and blend to a gluey paste. And go easy blending — thirty seconds is enough, and a long blitz turns potato starch to wallpaper paste.
After You've Cooked It
Refrigerated for 3 days. Freezes 2 months without the cream.
If You're Missing Something
- In a sauce, full-fat crème fraîche can usually take the place of the double cream; single cream is thinner and more likely to split if it boils, so keep it below a simmer.
What to Serve Alongside
- Crusty bread
- A grating of cheddar
- Chives
Nutrition per Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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