Creamy Potato Leek Soup

Potato and leek soup is a thick and creamy classic french soup known as Potage Parmentier or, when served cold, vichyssoise. This recipe is extremely quick and easy to make and can be served all year round.

📝 Ingredients

• 200 g white part of leek
• 200 g potato (peeled weight)
• 120 g onion (finely chopped )
• 20 g garlic (crushed )
• 20 g canola oil for frying
• 350 g chicken stock
• 200 g double cream
• 100 g green part of leek
• 4 bay leaves
• 5 sprigs thyme
• 4 chives (chopped )
• 12 g salt
• 2 g freshly ground black pepper

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1prep ingredients: Separate the white and green parts of the leek. Clean both parts of the leek thoroughly. Cut the white into thinly sliced semi-circles and the green into very thin strips across the grain of the fibre. Keep the two separate as they will be cooked at different times.
2. 2Finely dice the onion. Mince the garlic. Peel and wash the potatoes then cut into 2mm thick small slices. Pick the thyme leaves off the stalks, and heat a sauté pan or soup pot on medium heat with a splash of canola or other neutral-tasting oil.
3. 3cook: Sauté the onion, garlic, white part of the leek, potato, bay leaf and thyme leaves together adding half the salt required in the recipe. Keep the pot or pan covered with a lid while cooking. Do not let the ingredients caramelise.
4. 4When the veggies are soft add the cream and chicken broth followed by the finely sliced green part of the leek. Cover with a lid and cook on medium-high for about 3 minutes taking care not to let it catch on the bottom or boil over.
5. 5After the 3 minutes are up turn off the heat. Remove the bay leaves.
6. 6Blend in a high-speed blender taking care not to let the steam build up inside the jug which could lead to hot soup everywhere. The easiest way to avoid this is to make sure the lid of the blender has an opening at the top and the blender starts blending on a slow speed instead of 6th gear straight away. If you don't have a high-speed blender a good immersion blender also works. Just make sure pass the soup through a fine-mesh sieve after blending to make sure it's completely smooth and creamy.
7. 7serve: Finally, season with the rest of the salt and add the freshly ground black pepper. Taste it and adjust if needed. Serve with a sprinkle of freshly chopped chives, a drizzle of olive oil and some more freshly cracked black peppers.