Potato Leek Soup

 

Here’s a hearty soup for fall and winter days. Serve it as a main course or as a warm-up for skiers, woodcutters, and snow-shovelers. You can use brown-skinned potatoes, which often keep better through the winter, but the red ones look nice with the pale yellow-green of the leeks. For a meatless version, substitute butter for the bacon and add 1 teaspoon of curry powder.

Potato Leek Soup

Serves 4 as a main course, 6 as a starter

INGREDIENTS

• 4 ounces slab bacon, cut into small cubes (about ½ cup), or 4 regular bacon strips, chopped
• 6 medium-size leeks (white and pale green parts), cleaned (see page 142) and chopped (about 4 cups)
• 4 medium-size red potatoes (about 2 pounds total), scrubbed but not peeled, cut into ½-inch cubes
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, or ½ teaspoon dried
• Small pinch of nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Sauté the bacon, stirring, in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, soup pot, or Dutch oven over medium heat until it has browned uniformly, 5 to 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a plate. Drain off a little of the bacon fat in the pan if you like, but leave enough to cook the leeks in.
2. Add the leeks to the pan and sauté them over low heat, stirring frequently to make sure they do not burn, until wilted, 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes, 4 cups of water, and the bay leaf, thyme, nutmeg, a dash of salt, and black pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the potatoes and leeks are both very tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.
4. Puree the mixture, in batches if necessary, in a food processor or blender. (If using a blender, be careful not to fill it too full, lest it erupt at the top and burn you. A potato masher will also do the trick, but the texture will not be as smooth.)
5. Return the soup to the pan, add the bacon, and simmer, stirring often, until the bacon flavor permeates the soup, 5 minutes.
6. Just before serving, stir in the cream and heat the soup to just below a simmer. Taste, and add salt and pepper if needed. Serve in individual bowls, sprinkled with the parsley.

The Four Season Farm Gardener’s Cookbook
by Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman

Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman are America’s foremost organic gardeners, working through their extraordinary Four Season Farm in Maine. And now they’ve written the book on how to grow what you eat, and cook what you grow.

The Four Season Farm Gardener’s Cookbook is two books in one. It’s a complete four-season cookbook with 120 recipes that show how to maximize the fruits—and vegetables—of your labors. And it’s a step-by-step garden guide that works no matter how big or small your plot, with easy-to-follow instructions and plans for different gardens. It covers size of the garden, nourishing the soil, planning ahead, and the importance of rotating crops—yes, even in your backyard.

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