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Potato Leek Soup

Now I could have gone and posted a nice picture of a pale white soup, probably in one of my white bowls, that isn't much to look at but decided it probably wasn't worth it. A photo would not convince you to make this soup. This soup is the ideal anecdote to the winter "OMG it's so cold out" issue. I made it last weekend (and haven't gotten around to posting - yeah I've been crazy busy. You know post-vacation recovery takes a while). Last weekend was frigid, no other words for it. This weekend was 50, and yes it is still February - go figure. Go and be brave and make this soup without knowing what it looks like.

Potato Leek Soup (adapted from a fairly empty refrigerator)

2T butter
1T olive oil
3 leeks, 1/4" slice*
4 green onions, chopped
2 clove garlic minced
1/3 c white wine
4 potatoes, cut into small cubes
4 c chicken stock
2 c milk
Salt/Pepper

Melt butter and add olive oil in a large stock pot or dutch oven. Add leeks and some salt. Allow to cook down about 10 minutes. Add green onion and garlic. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes. Add wine and cook until almost all the wine has evaporated. Add potatoes, chicken stock, and milk. Cook until potatoes are tender about 15-20 minutes. Add additional salt and pepper. Using a stick blender, buzz the soup until to desired consistency, leaving some potatoes and leeks whole.

This is a pretty adaptable recipe. I guess most soup recipes are pretty adaptable. In case you don't feel you could, here are a few changes you could make:

First of all, you can leave out the green onions if you don't have them. You can also use water if you don't have chicken stock. If you don't own a stick blender or don't want to bother getting it out, you could leave the vegetables intact.  Instead of using butter or olive oil, I can see no harm coming if you used some good salt pork or some bacon. Actually, I only see benefits from that.

It comes together fairly easy. There is a little bit of chopping involved that might take a little bit of time, but all in all, you can have this on the table in probably less than 1 hour. So the next cold day, think about it...soup in an hour.

*How to clean a leek - Cut the root end off and toss away. Cut the top end off right where it is still a nice light green. Save the dark greens in the freezer for stock. Slice the leek down the length but not all the way through. Run under water holding the leek on an angle to let the water run down it. Let drain standing upright.

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