Leek and Potato Soup – Hot or Cold
- 3 to 4 cups, or 1 lb, peeled, potatoes, sliced or diced
- 3 cups or 1 lb thinly sliced leeks including the tender green; or yellow onions
- 2 quarts of water
- 1 Tb salt
- 4 to 6 Tb whipping cream or 2 to 3 Tb softened butter
- 2 to 3 Tb minced parsley or chives
1. Either simmer the vegetables, water, and salt together, partially covered, for 40 to 50 minutes until the vegetables are tender; or cook under 15 pounds pressure for 5 minutes, release pressure, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.
2. Mash the vegetables in the soup with a fork, or pass the soup through a food mill. Correct seasoning. Set aside uncovered until just before serving, then reheat to the simmer.
3. Off heat and just before serving, stir in the cream or butter by spoonfuls. Pour into a tureen or soup cups and decorate with the herbs.
VICHYSSOISE
Ingredients
– 3 cups peeled, sliced potatoes
– 3 cups sliced white of leek
– 1 1/2 quarts of white stock, chicken stock, or canned chicken broth
– Salt to taste
– 1/2 to 1 cup whipping cream
– Salt and white pepper
– 2 to 3 Tb minced chives
Instructions
1. Simmer the vegetables in stock or broth instead of water as described in the master recipe [Potage Parmentier]. Puree the soup either in the electric blender or through a food mill and then through a fine sieve.
2. Stir in the cream. Season to taste, oversalting very slightly as salt loses savor in a cold dish. Chill.
3. Serve in chilled soup cups and decorate with minced chives.
Bon Appétit!
Some like it hot! That’s me and you both.
This recipe looks simple and the photos promise me a delicious soup. Thanks Laura.
Let me know if you’re ever going to be making tartes au citron.
Thanks Trish! Julia does have a wonderful recipe for Tarte au Citron et Aux Amandes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking so maybe it will be one of the assigned recipes. I never know in advance what we’ll be cooking each week. It’s always a surprise until the email from the publisher arrives on Monday afternoons.
The anticipation reminds me a little of the Friday Weekly Photo Challenges.
🙂
This was one of the first recipes I made from MAFC back around 1969. Cold soup! How exotic is that! That first taste was a shock. These days the cream content is too much for me–not just because of the calories, but because of the the flavor. Maybe our palates have all grown up a little bit and we’re after a bit more than just richness. A culinary milestone nevertheless. I’ve never seen a bouquet garni wrapped in leek greens. Nice. Lovely pics too. Ken
Thanks very much for the compliment on the pics. I’ve finally stopped shooting blog photos with my iPhone 🙂
Cooking the MTAFC recipes with the JC100 project has been a great opportunity for me to try out some of what I’ve been reading in Le Cordon Bleu’s first year textbooks – Cuisine Foundations. The books are filled with gorgeous step-by-step colour photos illustrating the classic techniques, including this one for the bouquet garni. Those books turned out to be the best Paris souvenir I could have bought myself!
I’m curious to see what you and Jody have in store for us on your Friday post…I’m guessing chickpeas will figure into it 🙂
We try (but don’t always succeed) in being at least a week ahead in case some disaster strikes to throw us off our game. But I’ll take your guess for NEXT Friday. 😉 Ken
Yum! Great photos!
Thanks Mary! Now if only I had some natural sunlight to shoot them under. I hope the weather in Ottawa isn’t as dreary and wet as it is on our side of the country.
I remember eating that a lot in boarding school… memories. 😉
Hmmmm…not sure if those are good memories or bad ones. 🙂
Looks and sounds delicious. I will try the recipe. Soups not only gives a delicious and comforting meal but it helps us remember beautiful memories when we were younger and how our parents used to make one for us. Beautiful post. Thanks.
Thanks so much. There is something about soup that is both comforting and nostalgic, isn’t there? Hope all is well with you and your family 🙂
I love leek and potato soup! I’m going to get my wife to cook me some. She loves to cook – and I love to eat. I believe it is a hot soup, n’est-ce pas? One thing I don’t like is cold soups. When I was vacationing in Spain, many years ago, I asked for soup at a restaurant. They gave me Spanish Gaspacho, and I simply went, “Huh – this is soup? – It’s cold!”
Hi Giovanni – You could serve this soup either way, hot or cold, but I’m like you; cold soups just leave me cold. The only ones I’ve tried have been vegetable based, but I do have a recipe for chilled strawberry soup that I’ve never made. I imagine it tastes a lot like ice cream 🙂
P.S. Keep Cooking, Laura!
🙂
LOVE the soup cup and saucer! What is the pattern/ceramic maker?
On the soup front, just got back from a 3 week trip to UK and Ireland and had potato leek soup which we devoured. Thanks for the recipe ! Also love the leek wrapped bouquet garni.
Hi Luisa,
Wow – three weeks in the UK and Ireland! Lucky you! Hope you had a great trip.
The cup and saucer were a thrift store find (as was the bowl with the fruits and flowers). They are stamped “Morris National Hand Painted Made in China”. I think they were originally sold as part of a set made up of a stackable teapot, two cups and two saucers. I was hoping to complete my set, and did manage to find it on eBay, but the colour was different. You can see it here.
Thanks very much for stopping by,
Laura
Just found this on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270997668118+
Whoops! This is the off color one you already found.
I much prefer your yellow/blue one.
I think they are the same but the eBay set says its hand-painted in Japan whereas mine says China. Still, they look identical. I agree though. The yellow/blue colour is much more attractive 🙂
Hope you have a great weekend!
I am now printng this recipe, and will be giving it to my wife for preparation. She loves to cook, and I love to eat. Thanks for this recipe, Laura.
Be sure and let me know how you like it! Thanks very much for stopping by 🙂