Leek and Potato Soup

Well the time has come around again to make Leek and Potato Soup which I think is really good. I have a BASIC recipe for Leek and Potato Soup and then lots of variations on the one soup so really at least 12 recipes.


Firstly some facts about these great vegetables.

Leeks are a great vegetable at this time of the year for soup recipes.
To find out about them go to LOVELY LEEKS
They also have good nutritional value for our diet LEEKS NUTRITION
There is a good link here on Leek Preparation
This is a video on the preparation of a leek soup
These are the ingredients I use for Leek and Potato Soup and below is the finished soup.
INGREDIENTS
6 leeks washed and sliced
6 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped fine
1 onion peeled and fine diced
4 large potatoes peeled and diced
Swiss vegetable bouillon to make 2 pints/1 litre of stock
olive oil or unsalted butter to fry
salt and pepper
fresh sage leaves or dried sage
METHOD
1. Heat the olive oil or butter to medium heat and fry the onion as and garlic until soft, garlic will burn if the oil is to hot .
2. Add leeks and cook for 5 to 10 minutes
3. Add potatoes and cook for 5 to 10 minutes
4. Add stock, salt and pepper, fresh sage or dried and cook for 30 minutes .
5. Puree all the soup in a blender.
Garnish
Serve with fresh sage leaves.
VARIATIONS ON THE BASIC
1.garnish with crispy bacon.
2. garnish with chopped ham
3. garnish with stilton
4. garnish with parmesan shavings
5.Only blend half the soup
6.use tarragon,mixed herbs,thyme, or another fresh herb
7. Add cream, creme fraiche or yogurt
8. add chickpeas
9. add beans such as borloti, black eye, haricot, butter bean
10.Substitute parsnips for the potatoes
11.Add lemon rind and lemon juice to serve
12.Make without potatoes and use some white wine as part of the stock
Thanks for reading
Crazycupcakes


I found these books which may have some good soup recipes.

Check out this book at SOUP FACTORY


Check out this at SUNDAY SOUP

Leek and Potato Soup

This soup is a good soup for those wanting to eat sensibly to be healthy. I personally have always wanted to eat healthily and keep slim without avoiding all the good food treats. My own diet consists of 3 meals per day and a treat supper. I try to avoid eating in between meals and I have never liked junk food. I think once you eat a whole food diet that your palate finds junk food totally unsatisfying but this does not mean that I avoid cakes , ice cream, chips etc. I just like to make my own so I know what goes into the food and never deny myself treats. I always think you are what you eat so it is important to create a good balanced diet of carbohydrates, protein, vitamins and minerals. I always include vegetarian and vegan food in my diet. I like to experiment and try food of all cultures. I do like to eat local and seasonal foods from the UK.

This leek and potato soup recipe is a great lunch meal but with the addition of protein and beans or pulses it can become a meal in itself.
Ingredients

8 leeks diced

4 large potatoes peeled and diced

1 onion diced

4 garlic cloves diced fine

1 1/2 pints of chicken or vegetable stock homemade or cube

salt and pepper

dried or fresh sage about 1 tablespoon of fresh 1 teaspoon of dried

olive oil or butter to fry

Method

1. Heat the oil gently in a large pan to a medium heat not hot

2. Add the onions and garlic sweat for 5 minutes(put on the pan lid to sweat)

3. Add leeks and sweat for 5 minutes

4. Add potatoes and sweat for 5minutes

5. Add stock , sage and cook until all the vegetables are cooked but firm in texture

6. Add salt and pepper to taste

Variations

1.Add cream to make cream of leek and potato soup

2. Put all or half the soup into a blender to make a smooth leek and potato soup

3. Serve with grated cheese such as Lancashire, Parmesan or Cheddar

4. For a different flavour make cream of leek soup and serve with crumbled Stilton cheese to make Leek and Stilton Soup

5. Add 3 rashers of bacon after the onions to create Leek ,potato and bacon soup

6. Add milk to the soup instead of all stock to create a soup that is less rich than cream of leek soup

7. To make this soup into a meal soup add a tin of either, butter beans, chickpeas, haricot beans, flagelot beans, red kidney beans to make Leek, potato and bean soup

Diet tips

This soup has a good roughage content, fibre, vitamins and supplies part of the 5 portions of fruit or vegetable per day. Serve with wholemeal or granary bread to add extra fibre and carbohydrates. Bread with seeds in such as pumpkin and sunflower seeds are very tasty and add extra vitamins.

I hope you can enjoy this soup and it helps with your diet to loose weight or to maintain a healthy diet. If you have any comments or questions please post in the comments and I will try to post any answers.

Thanks for reading Crazycupcakes