ffwd - leek and potato soup

For those of you who have been wondering... leek & potato, or potato & leek... well, correctly, Dorie's is called leek and potato, because all of us who have made it realize - there are a lot of leeks in there! But leeks are wonderful, so that's all good. I didn't look up Julia Child's recipe from MTOFC until just now, though I've made it before. She also calls it leek and potato - though to be fair, in French, it's Potage Parmentier which (as we learned when we made our hachis) really refers to potatoes. Of course, all of this is purely academic. As I mentioned last week, (almost) every year, my mom & I host a wreath-making party. She typically supplies the brains and creativity, and I supply the sustenance. It seems to work out, since as this year, we even had a friend's friend join us from the UK! It's a wonderful kick-off for the holidays, and is a no-stress, no-pressure day, that results in a lot of laughs, catching up, and something beautiful to take home!!

But I digress. I served the sweet & spicy nuts as a starter (yum!). And since I normally serve soup - I chose our leek & potato soup from our list of December recipes with french fridays with dorie. I decided to make it "hot and smooth" because that makes it easy to serve in mugs - quite handy. As I compare to Julia's recipe: no herbs, both leeks and onions (and many more leeks), no milk or broth (I suspect water is more classic). For those of you who either saw the movie or read the book, it's true that Potage Parmentier is the first recipe in MTOFC, and it was also the first one that I made after picking it up again. Interesting to see how both versions are done - and food for thought... and tinkering!


ingredients ready to go
I was happy that I still had some fresh thyme from the garden and sage
oh, and yes, I made a double-batch



couldn't decide whether to keep this picture or not - it's hard to see, but those are the little "germs:
that Dorie likes to remove from garlic
I suspect I'm more peasantish because I'm not sure I am able to distinguish, but sometimes
I still go ahead with it, since I'm "supposed to"



a lotta leeks!! (these were nice, totally clean, and quite white, so - perfect!)

 

I have to say, that looks really great - all ready for a nice simmer



now for the "smooth" part
I love using a hand-blender, it's so much easier (and let's face it, less dangerous!)
than transfering to a blender
since it could be chunky or smooth, I didn't think it would matter too much
I might try chunky next time



ready to serve
(oh, those are gluten-free cheese "puffs"? - they were a big hit)



yes, lunch break!
a little soup, a little bread, a little wine... what more can you ask for??


This was really good. Nice, simple, comforting. I think I will change it up a bit next time - maybe somewhere in between. But I get the impression that this is one of those recipes that is a great starting point too. So this was fun to make, and a terrific reminder that I should break this out again. Dorie had a couple of great suggestions... and I've seen others as well (croutons, bacon, spinach swirled in at the last...). Now I'm sorry I don't have any leftovers!!