Subject: Potato Leek Soup Today
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: Jill McQuown
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 03:46:31 -0500
--------
"Katrina" didn't dump much of anything on west TN but the temps dropped so I'm making potato-leek soup today (not that I need cool weather to make soup!). The basic recipe follows:
2 large white potatoes, peeled and diced
2 large leeks, washed well and thinly sliced. Finely chop the green parts (but not the full-blown tough leaves)
4 c. chicken broth or stock
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4-1/2 c. heavy cream (I use half & half most of the time)
dash grated nutmeg
1 Tbs. dried parsley for garnish (optional)
In a large pot, combine the potatoes, leeks, chicken broth and salt & pepper (to taste, really). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Strain the soup into a large mixing bowl or another pan. Blend the potatoes and leeks with about 1/4 broth until smooth (I use my stick blender for this now that I have one). Return blended mixture to pan with remaining liquid. Stir in cream and nutmeg and heat through. Garnish with parsley.
You may vary this soup in any number of ways. I like to cook a couple of slices of bacon if I have some and crumble it and add it to the soup. Sometimes I sprinkle shredded cheese over the soup in the bowl as a garnish - whatever is a nice melting cheese in my fridge.
From: alex (aw_cns1b05 at yahoo.co.uk)
Date: 31 Aug 2005 04:55:27 -0700
--------
I actually love potato and leek soup
From: Jill McQuown
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 07:03:29 -0500
--------
alex wrote:
> I actually love potato and leek soup
It's good stuff. Often I make "bread bowls" to serve it in. Small hollowed out sourdough loaves rubbed with garlic and brushed with oil and baked until nice and toasty inside. Reserve the hollowed out bread pieces (freeze them) to make nice breadcrumbs later.
From: MoM (mpeagramNOSPAM at gmail.com)
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 10:04:49 -0400
--------
This is a really good one.
Helen's Chunky Bacon, Leek & Potato Chowder
Serving Size: 6
Categories: Family
8 sl Bacon
3 Leeks ; sliced use mostly White)
4 oz Butter
1/2 c Flour
1 cn Chicken broth
1 cn Hot water
4 sm Potatoes ; peeled and diced
2 c Half and half
Salt to taste
White pepper to taste
ds Of nutmeg
Saute bacon and leeks in a stockpot. Add butter, flour, and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in water, chicken broth, potatoes, and cream. Add salt, white pepper, and nutmeg to taste. bake at 325F until potatoes are tender, about 1 1/4 hours.. Serve.
From: rosie (RMi1013934 at aol.com)
Date: 31 Aug 2005 05:02:30 -0700
--------
Jill, I make mine almost the same way, but I do put a bit of butter in the pan and cook the thinly sliced leeks first.It is really good.
From: mvp at web1.calweb.com (Mike Van Pelt)
Date: 31 Aug 2005 22:42:10 GMT
--------
rosie wrote:
>Jill, I make mine almost the same way, but I do put a bit of butter in
>the pan and cook the thinly sliced leeks first.It is really good.
Same here, but I don't add the cream, and use less liquid (chicken stock) for thickness. One day I may try it with the cream, but I really like it without. (What I've had in restaurants is no doubt done with cream, and I like mine better than that.)
With bacon, on the other hand... mmmmmmmmmmmmm!! Maybe use the bacon fat to pre-cook the leeks....
From: Jude (JudeNev at cox.net)
Date: 31 Aug 2005 16:30:47 -0700
--------
I've got a recipe for fresh pea soup with butter dumplings. let me dig out The Vegetarian Epicure after the kiddo goes to bed and i'll post it for you. I've always used fresh shelled peas, but my mom has made it with frozen before.
From: Jill McQuown
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 02:48:32 -0500
--------
Mike Van Pelt wrote:
> With bacon, on the other hand... mmmmmmmmmmmmm!! Maybe use
> the bacon fat to pre-cook the leeks....
Mike, I didn't use bacon fat to pre-cook the leaks (will do that next time) but I added some crumbled bacon and about 2 oz. of the German Butter Cheese to the leftover soup when I reheated it. The cheese melted nicely and added some "oomph" LOL The bacon definitely added a kick. There are so many things you can do with this simple recipe. Normally I would scoop out the innards from a couple of small sourdough loaves, rub them with garlic and then brush with oil and bake them to use as "bowls" for the soup. I didn't do it this time so here you have another thing you can do. Anything goes! YUM!
From: cathyxyz (cathy1234 at mailinator.com)
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 17:51:28 +0200
--------
Jill McQuown wrote:
> "Katrina" didn't dump much of anything on west TN but the temps dropped so
> I'm making potato-leek soup today (not that I need cool weather to make
> soup!). The basic recipe follows:
Hey Jill, this looks good.
Now I need to pick your brains again. I bought a 2kg bag of "catering quality" frozen peas yesterday - but they are so tough, I think they will only be good enough for soup ;)
DH wants to make traditional Dutch pea soup, and I have googled, but there are so many variations, I am not sure which would be best. I know you are supposed to use dried peas, but a few recipes did say you could use "fresh". I really don't want to waste the peas. Do you have a favourite recipe?
Thanks
From: Dee Randall (deedovey at shentel.net)
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 12:21:16 -0400
--------
cathyxyz wrote:
> DH wants to make traditional Dutch pea soup, and I have googled, but
> there are so many variations, I am not sure which would be best. I know
> you are supposed to use dried peas, but a few recipes did say you could
> use "fresh". I really don't want to waste the peas. Do you have a
> favourite recipe?
If you are speaking of fresh garden peas (or frozen fresh garden peas) soup, this is basically what I know about fresh pea soup and have made it, but not this exact recipe, but quite similar to what I've made. In my mind, fresh pea soup has been French, not Dutch, but then, what do I know.
http://www.soupsong.com/rstgerm2.html
Actually fresh pea soup is quite refreshing! Ummm.
Dee Dee
From: cathyxyz (cathy1234 at mailinator.com)
Date: 31 Aug 2005 09:38:39 -0700
--------
Dee Randall wrote:
> If you are speaking of fresh garden peas (or frozen fresh garden peas) soup,
> this is basically what I know about fresh pea soup and have made it, but not
> this exact recipe, but quite similar to what I've made. In my mind, fresh
> pea soup has been French, not Dutch, but then, what do I know.
>
http://www.soupsong.com/rstgerm2.html
> Actually fresh pea soup is quite refreshing! Ummm.
Thanks Dee, but the one I am looking for is Erwtensoep (Dutch pea soup) and one of the ones I found was on the same site ;)
http://soupsong.com/rpea2.html
However this calls for split peas and I have frozen (so called) fresh garden peas, to answer your question. I dunno if these will do? I don't know why I bought them, they are a brand I have never tried, but they "looked" okay. Tried some last night and they were as tough as old boots! That'll larn me, as my Mom used to say. And as the French recipe calls for frozen tiny peas (that are usually very tender)..... hmmmm.
:)
From: TammyM (tdmcniff at ucdavis.edu)
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 10:35:20 -0700
--------
cathyxyz wrote:
> Thanks Dee, but the one I am looking for is Erwtensoep (Dutch pea soup)
> and one of the ones I found was on the same site ;)
>
>
http://soupsong.com/rpea2.html
>
> However this calls for split peas and I have frozen (so called) fresh
> garden peas, to answer your question. I dunno if these will do? I don't
> know why I bought them, they are a brand I have never tried, but they
> "looked" okay. Tried some last night and they were as tough as old
> boots! That'll larn me, as my Mom used to say. And as the French recipe
> calls for frozen tiny peas (that are usually very tender)..... hmmmm.
I have only ever made erwtensoep with dried peas. I think you should create your own using the fresh ones and let us know how it turns out :-) You could mash some of the peas for texture (a touch of cream wouldn't hurt either!)
:-)
TammyM, soup royalty in Her own right :->
From: Jill McQuown
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 11:42:57 -0500
--------
cathyxyz wrote:
> DH wants to make traditional Dutch pea soup, and I have googled, but
> there are so many variations, I am not sure which would be best. I know
> you are supposed to use dried peas, but a few recipes did say you could
> use "fresh". I really don't want to waste the peas. Do you have a
> favourite recipe?
I'm afraid I've never made a traditional pea soup using fresh *or* dried peas! I did buy some dried "split" peas to use in making soup but haven't attempted it yet. So sorry I'm not able to help!
From: cathyxyz (cathy1234 at mailinator.com)
Date: 31 Aug 2005 09:49:50 -0700
--------
Jill McQuown wrote:
> I'm afraid I've never made a traditional pea soup using fresh *or* dried
> peas! I did buy some dried "split" peas to use in making soup but haven't
> attempted it yet. So sorry I'm not able to help!
<sigh of disappointment>
I thought you were the "Soup Queen" <sniff>. Glad you are ok, though. That's why I am grateful for geography sometimes.... no hurricanes around here!
From: Jill McQuown
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 13:28:48 -0500
--------
cathyxyz wrote:
> <sigh of disappointment>
>
> I thought you were the "Soup Queen" <sniff>.
Doesn't mean I've made every type of soup on the planet :) I'd like to know how yours turns out if you make it. It's hard to fathom tough fresh (even from frozen) peas!
From: TammyM (tdmcniff at ucdavis.edu)
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 10:27:05 -0700
--------
Jill McQuown wrote:
> "Katrina" didn't dump much of anything on west TN but the temps dropped so
> I'm making potato-leek soup today (not that I need cool weather to make
> soup!). The basic recipe follows:
I'm jealous, Jill - it won't be soup-making weather here until late November! (if the weather follows its usual pattern.) It's supposed to get up to 99 today. Last year, the first cold-snap occurred just before Thanksgiving!
From: Jill McQuown
Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 06:31:48 -0500
--------
TammyM wrote:
> I'm jealous, Jill - it won't be soup-making weather here until late
> November! (if the weather follows its usual pattern.) It's supposed
> to get up to 99 today. Last year, the first cold-snap occurred just
> before Thanksgiving!
LOL It's not exactly cold here, you know! It was only 90 yesterday. I make soup year-round :)
From: TammyM (tdmcniff at ucdavis.edu)
Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 12:05:50 -0700
--------
Jill McQuown wrote:
> LOL It's not exactly cold here, you know! It was only 90 yesterday. I
> make soup year-round :)
I bow to your soup-Queenliness (your Soupiness?) I whine about the heat here in Sac regularly, but I know that it doesn't hold a candle to Memphis -- ours, as we say, "is a DRY heat." The humidity there must be killer. It was 97 here yesterday. 10% humidity. Sure glad I don't smoke anymore, pretty easy to torch something, as dry as everything is here these days!
About the only soup I can abide making right now is gazpacho :-)
TammyM, Soup Princess
From: Jill McQuown
Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 14:33:11 -0500
--------
TammyM wrote:
> I bow to your soup-Queenliness (your Soupiness?)
I love that! Soupiness!
> I whine about the
> heat here in Sac regularly, but I know that it doesn't hold a candle to
> Memphis -- ours, as we say, "is a DRY heat." The humidity there must
> be killer. It was 97 here yesterday. 10% humidity. Sure glad I
> don't smoke anymore, pretty easy to torch something, as dry as
> everything is here these days!
>
> About the only soup I can abide making right now is gazpacho :-)
What's the name of that cold potato soup? Vishyssoise? That might be good with leeks in it, too :)
> TammyM, Soup Princess
It's 91F here at the moment with 42% humidity. That's relatively low humidity for this time of year. You can feel it but it's not like you just got slapped in the face with a hot wet rag :)
OB more food: The weather is supposed to be perfect for Labor Day weekend, around 88F and sunny so I'll be grilling. I'm definitely grilling the two zucchini I have. But I haven't decided on the "main" yet - marinated grilled flank steak, grilled chicken thighs or fish (tilapia). As usual, I won't know what I want until the morning of, when it's time to do the defrost in a sink filled with cold water trick. (In case of flank steak, it will then be get it in the marinade, quick!)