Potato Leek Soup

An easy-to-prepare cream-style soup.

Prep Time: 15 minutes / Cook Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

3 tbsp (45 ml) butter or margarine
2-3 medium leeks, sliced (green tops included)
1 small onion, minced
1 tsp (5 ml) basil, dried (or 1 tbsp fresh)*
1 tsp (5 ml) marjoram, dried (or 1 tbsp fresh)*
1/2 tsp (3 ml) savory, dried (or 1.5 tsp fresh)*
1/4 tsp (1 ml) cracked black pepper
4 cup (1 L) water
2 stalks celery, diced
3 medium potatoes, diced
2 cup (500 ml) milk
3 tbsp (45 ml) unbleached flour

Procedure:

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add leeks, onion, dried basil, marjoram, savory and cracked pepper. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring often, until leeks and onion are soft, but not brown.

Add water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add celery, potatoes and pepper. Bring to boil again; reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes longer or until potatoes are tender.

In a small bowl, measure out flour. Stir a little of the milk into the flour, stirring constantly to make a paste. Slowly add more milk, stirring constantly, to form a smooth, creamy mixture. Add rest of milk and stir to ensure all the flour is mixed in from the bottom of the bowl.

Stir flour and milk mixture into soup. Add fresh basil, marjoram and savory at this point, if using. Heat and stir until soup is thickened.

Serves 6

Note: If doubling the recipe, make sure you are using a good-sized stockpot. You may also find that you need to add an extra cup of water. This will depend on the size of your potatoes. Add any extra water towards the end of the simmer time for the potatoes. You do not want too runny a soup, as this is more of a cream soup recipe.