Potato Leek Soup (too simple?)

This one is pretty simple but is a big hit at my house. The baby got his first taste yesterday, and wanted more even though it was a little too spicy for him (he stuck out his tongue and panted).

3 leeks washed, chopped or slivered
4 large russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 cloves garlic minced
1 quart chicken broth (homemade or canned)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (more or less to taste)
1 cup whole or 2% milk
1 TBL sour cream
1 TBL Butter
kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Super easy, just sweat your vegetable matter down in the butter, season with your cayenne, salt and pepper and then add your broth and simmer. After your potatoes begin falling apart help them along with a potato masher and add your milk and sour cream. Simmer longer to desired consistency, adjusting seasoning. Goes particularly well with a grilled cheese made with Neapolitan white bread, heirloom tomato slices and an alpine cheese such as Alpha Tomen. Pairs beautifully with "beer".

I love potato leek soup. You are right it is super simple and very tasty.. I make it almost exactly the same way as you, but I like it smooth so I put in a blender or use my stick blender. I have never put cayenne in mine but it would be a nice touch.... Cheers

Sounds awesome

A friend makes it along with pepper soda bread. I haven't made it in a while, but it's leek time so I may go get some this weekend or next.

Mushrooms should be popping now too.

Oh, man, some morels fresh outta the woods might be good in there.

Morels,ramps and fried crappie fillets.Man I love spring.Oh yeah the soup sounds perfect.

I like that combo myself. Ramps chopped with morels in some bacon fat. Then breaded crappie fillets. Oh yeah...:rockin:

No bacon?

I like to save the drippin' to cook with.

Soup looks great. I've started subbing Berbere from Penzey's for all my cayenne. Still adds heat as it's mostly cayenne but a lot of depth with all the other spices in there too.

I do a beer cheese soup that's basically a rich potato leek soup blended smooth with an immersion blender with some smoked cheese and Newcastle for the beer. Not very good for drinking it but it's awesome to cook with. Garnish with a spiral each of balsamic and olive oil and dip crunchy almost stale baguette into it... heaven

Ham/bacon i would add

DU99 said:

Ham/bacon i would add

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I like this idea, but it depends on what you are looking for in a leek soup. Some may want to go with a soup that highlights the leeks and basically uses the potato for some texture. Others may want a soup with ham or bacon because you rally can't ruin a soup with those items, and for some soups they upgrade it.

I think we'd probably go with bacon or ham in my house. There should be plenty of flavor from the leeks already so you won't overwhelm the soup with a bit of smokey meat flavor and you get a bit more interesting texture with a bit of meat to chew on.

One thing I learned long ago when making vegetable-based soups is not to use chicken stock. The chicken flavor will take over and/or be very noticeable. Instead, you want to use vegetable stock, preferably homemade... especially if it's made with the star ingredient, e.g. butternut squash guts (along with some standard mirepoix) to make butternut squash stock. The star ingredient will be heightened and you will get tons of that flavor in every bite.

I would caution against store-bought vegetable stocks that utilize tomato. Tomato is a very potent flavor in vegetable stocks and only good to include if you are making a tomato-based soup.