Potato and Leek Soup

Saturday lunchtime during the cold miserable winter will find me at home having made a pot of warming soup with some home made bread to complement it.  I have a huge repertoire of differing soups but we always come back to the family favourite; Potato (and leek).    With three fussy boys and an abhorrence of any kind of green vegetables the soup soon became just Potato; I get away with it as the veg is all puréed at the time of serving.

This is quick and simple to make, but like most good soups does benefit for leaving to simmer for an hour or so.  I like the ease of hardly chopping the vegetables and just throwing them in the pot.

Ingredients 
butter /oil
onion skinned and chopped roughly 
leeks (top and tailed) then roughly chopped
potatoes - lots peeled and chopped into large chunks
sherry 
stock 
cream to serve 
parsley to serve




Heat the butter or oil in a large saucepan
Turn the heat down and add the onions and leeks 
Fry gently

Add the potatoes and toss well 

Add the sherry (my secret ingredient that gives depth to the soup).  I add a good slug and mix the veg well so they are all coated.  

Let the veg cook very gently (low heat) in the sherry till it has all gone and appears almost caramalised.

Add your stock.  Use plenty and you can top up with water if you do not have enough.  (I use my own stock - ham water, chicken bones and veg boiled up - this makes the soup  already quite salty but a stock cube works just as well)

Bring the soup to the boil and turn the heat down again allowing the soup to simmer.   This can be served after the potatoes are soft enough to begin to break down, however the longer the soup is left the deeper the taste.


When you are ready to serve the soup, put it in the blender and liquidise it.  It should be thick and warming, rather than liquid.



Serve with a spiral of cream, a parsley garnish for the more discerning and home made bread still warm from the oven (Middle Son made these delicious cheese buns)


Enjoy.  Let me know your secret ingredient and what it brings to a simple bowl of soup

Tiggy 

Find out what I am up to in my other blog  http://tiggyhayes.wordpress.com/