Potato Leek Soup Recipe
- 3 Tablespoons Butter
- 3 Cups Sliced Leeks
- 3 Tablespoons Flour
- 6 Cups Chicken Broth
- 1 Tablespoon Salt and Pepper to taste
- 4 Cups Peeled, Roughly Chopped Potatoes
- 1 Pint Half & Half (In the dairy counter with the milk, and such)
Directions
Leeks usually come priced per leek — 79¢ or something like that. You use only the white part so you want leeks with the most white you can find — maybe 6 or 8 depending on their size. You cut off the green part and slit the other end so you can peel back the layers to wash out any accumulated dirt. Otherwise, you get a gritty soup. It is not hard to do.
Melt the 3 tablespoons of butter in the bottom of a big pan — add the sliced leeks — and cover to steam the leeks on a low to medium heat for about 5 minutes. You want to soften but not brown them.
Then add the 3 tablespoons of flour, still on medium heat, and stir the leek, flour, and butter mixture for 2 or 3 minutes to cook but not brown the flour.
Then add your chicken broth — a cup or so at first and stir well to get up all the flour and butter and dissolve it. Then add the rest of the broth. I use Campbell’s canned chicken broth — you will find it with the rest of Campbell’s soups. A cup is 8 ounces but a can of soup is about 10 ounces — so I usually use five cans of soup or a little less.
Now peel and chop your potatoes and add them to the soup. Add the salt. Bring it to a boil and simmer (low boil) for about 40 minutes.
Then I mash the vegetables into small pieces — you do not want the vegetables too smooth.
Add the Half & Half just before serving and check to see if it needs a little more reheating.
It sounds complicated but the first part only takes 20 minutes or so and then it does not need much care. Just be sure it simmers enough to cook the vegetables but does not boil so hard they burn.
Good luck.
This will make about eight cups of soup.
It freezes well.
A good French bread and a mixed green salad go well.