Potato Leek Soup
*serves 6-8

While I feel like I should be writing Thanksgiving posts and giving everyone ideas for holiday cooking, entertaining and table dressing — I won’t be. I have an arsenal of family recipes that I do help prepare for the holiday feast, but I am not the type of food blogger who is going to make stuffing before Thanksgiving to photograph, nor will I do it with the mashed potatoes, yams, string beans, stuffed artichokes, cranberries or any other item found on our table. I should have photographed everything last year when I was preparing for the holiday at my aunts house, or I suppose I could have made a Thanksgiving recipe one dish at a time, one week at a time starting in September so I had more to offer you — but I didn’t. And I decided that that’s a-ok.

In recent weeks I made potato leek soup and quiche lorraine, which I will share recipes for, mainly because I believe they’re handy every day recipes to have and great meals to make on a weeknight or weekend. Both of these meals can be prepared ahead of time and even frozen.

My aunt and uncle were coming home from a 5 day trip to South Carolina to visit my mother, father and brothers. When left with a kitchen and to my own devices — when it’s 28 degrees on a Long Island morning and it’s a pajama day all day kind of day — potato soup sounded like a most comforting and tasty option to heat up for dinner.

To make the soup you’ll need heaps of fresh leeks — like 6-8 tall, thick ones — and at least 3 pounds of potatoes. The process of slicing and cleaning the leeks as well as peeling and chopping the potatoes is honestly the brunt of the work. Once the slicing, cleaning, peeling and chopping are done — potato leek soup basically cooks itself into a creamy, flavorful and masterful meal. Wait and see.

Fill a large stock pot with water and as you slice the leeks, let them soak in the water. Swish them around to remove the dirt from between the layers and then strain them in a colander — after this they can go right back into that same large stock pot with a bit of butter and some garlic. They leeks will need to cook for about 15 minutes on a pretty low flame just until they are translucent and fragrant. Yum. The potatoes will then be added, mixed in with the leeks and, then, finally, covered in chicken stock to cook for about 35-45 minutes.

As the potatoes and leeks cook, you can add some dried thyme and two large bay leaves, I found that this really made the soup so very flavorful. And after that initial 45 minutes of cooking, until the potatoes are nice and tender, you can then blend the soup right in the pot using an immersion blender. Whenever I am making soup this is when I take the opportunity to adjust the salt, pepper and any flavoring. I was almost going to omit adding milk to the soup because, honestly, it was SO CREAMY as it was, but I added a tiny bit to thin and smooth it out. But if you’d like to freeze the soup, don’t add the milk! Adding milk and freezing the soup will lead to eating chunky soup when it’s defrosted and warmed up.

I served the soup with additional freshly ground black pepper, chipped chives and gruyere cheese. On the side, for some protein and a completely decadent dinner, came the quiche lorraine. When it’s cold outside, now or between the holidays, on a week night or a weekend, this is a soulful meal you can always turn to.

Potato Leek Soup
*serves 6-8

Ingredients
2.5 pounds of Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled and cubed
6 large leeks, white and light green parts sliced, placed in water to clean, and drained
6 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon of salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 large bay leaves
6 cups of chicken stock
2/3 cup of whole milk (optional)
Chopped fresh chives (optional for garnish)
Grated gruyere cheese (optional for topping the soup)
Cooked bacon (optional for topping the soup)

Instructions
—Peel and cube potatoes, placing them in cold water until ready to use.
—Fill a large stock pot or bowl with cold water, slice the white an light green parts of the leeks and place them in the water, swishing them around to clean out the dirt.
—Drain the leeks, using a strainer or colander, and put them aside.
—Heat the butter in a large stock pot over a medium flame, add the leeks and salt and cook until soft, translucent and fragrant — about 10 minutes — do not let the leeks brown. Should the leeks start browning before they are soft, simply lower the flame.
—Add the potatoes, chicken stock and bay leaves — cook for 30-40 minutes until the potatoes are very soft.
—Remove the soup from the heat, discard the bay leaves, and blend the soup until silky and smooth using an immersion blender.
—Adjust salt and add freshly ground black pepper to taste.
—At this point, add the milk, which is optional. IMO the soup doesn’t even needed milk or cream because the butter and chicken stock combined with the Yukon Gold Potatoes (they are a very soft, buttery and fluffy potato when cooked) make for an extraordinarily rich and creamy soup
—Serve hot with any and all of the fixins, from chives, to grated gruyere cheese to crispy bacon!