Thursday, October 1, 2009

Creamy Potato and Leek Soup


I have a confession to make: I don't really care for autumn. While everyone around me is celebrating the advent of crisp weather and cozy evenings by the fire, I am mourning the passing of summer. I am too busy dreading the impending short days and bitter cold to sing the praises of some colorful leaves that are  just going to blow away with the first stiff wind.


Someday (soon I hope) I'll move somewhere where I'll never have to think about about socks,  sweaters, or  long underwear again.  But until then,  I'll  make due with the only bright side of the dark half of the year: the food. 
For my  first seasonal dish of consolation I decided to make a creamy potato and leek soup. To avoid packing on layers of insulation around my midsection, I used just a tiny  bit of actual cream and made up the difference with plain Greek-style yogurt.  The soup was still thick and hearty, and the yogurt lent a very subtle and pleasant pungency to the soup. This is an easy dish that tastes even better the next day.

Creamy Potato and Leek Soup
  • 2 leeks, tops removed and chopped fine
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped fine
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced  into 1/2 inch cubes
  • 1/4 cup cream
  • 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
  • 3-4 cups vegetable broth 
  • leaves from about 4-5 springs of thyme
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1tbsp butter
  • salt and pepper, to taste
 In a stockpot, saute the leeks and onions in the olive oil and butter until soft. Add the garlic, 1/2 the thyme, and a pinch of sailt and pepper. Saute a few more minutes.
Add the potatoes and broth. (Add just enough broth to cover the potatoes plus about 1/4 of an inch.) 
Simmer  until the potatoes are tender. 
Taste the broth and season with thyme, salt, and pepper to taste.
Working in batches, do a rough puree of  3/4 of the soup in a food processor. 
Add the puree back to the soup and add the cream and yogurt. Stir well.
Bring back to a simmer and season to taste. 

I served my soup with homemade focaccia bread, the subject of a future post.

Creamy Potato and Leek Soup on Foodista





13 comments:

  1. This looks great! Its amazing how many things I miss out on eating because of onions in them. I am allergic, but it sure looks wonderful....I would eat this if I could.....:)

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  2. This soup looks & sounds amazing. I love potatoes and leeks. I'm so glad it's "soup season!"

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  3. Oh, I bet greek yogurt would be awesome in this dish. Yum.

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  4. Sounds great! I'm originally from Minnesota - and now live in Chicago - I feel your cold weather pangs! Can't wait for spring ;-)

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  5. oh what a lovely soup they is a soup contest on mixing bowl u should enter it

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  6. be still my heart...i LOVE everything about this post! we must have a relative somewhere, going waaaaaaay back, that makes us related.

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  7. Pegasuslegend: I bet if you substituted garlic (roasted and non) for onions it would be pretty tasty!
    Andrea & tastyeats: Thanks! Yep, the yogurt is nice (and less guilt inducing than cream.)
    Mary: hopefully food will get us through the winter...
    Rebeccah: Thanks for the tip, I'll have to check that out.
    Brie: We both love food, so we're related in spirit!

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  8. yummm! I love how comforting this soup is!

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  9. I second your thoughts about coming of fall. Certainly a great idea to stock up on soup recipes!
    Your Potato-leek Soup looks yummy and comforting... Can't wait to try it.

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  10. chic picture!
    i bet the soup must taste good too!

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  11. Sounds quite tasty!

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  12. Really like the lighter approach to this soup. --Cool bowl!

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