Related Posts with Thumbnails

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Leek & Potato Soup


This past Sunday was a perfect fall day, weather wise. The sun was bright and warm, so I opened all my windows to let in the fresh air. With weather like that I certainly did not want to be cooped up indoors for the whole day, so in the morning I ventured to the Gatineau Park for a trail run with my husband. I figured that it would be a popular thing to do in weather like that, so I was up early and out the door allowing me to have the trail all to myself (except for my husband a few white tailed deer).

After the run I was incredibly hungry for lunch, but also being so motivated by the fall weather to be productive I went through my fridge and gathered the ingredients to make a silky smooth leek and potato soup. This soup does not take long to make, so I decided it was worth the wait and had some other nibbles to tie me over until the soup was ready.

This recipe is from the Loonies Spoons cookbook and incorporates buttermilk at the end, rather than cream or milk. Not only does the addition of the buttermilk make the soup extremely silky and smooth, but it makes it an incredibly low fat and low calories lunch. After trying buttermilk in this soup, I have taken that idea and now use it to replace cream or milk in most of my soups and even in my baking.


As it was so gorgeous outside I could not resist but to sit out on the back deck to enjoy my soup while watching the squirrels comb the premise for buried nuts. Rather than sit at the patio table I threw down a cozy blanket, sat cross legged like a child and enjoyed a picnic style lunch with my warm soup, topped with my garden chives and served with a couple slices of warm whole wheat baguette.

Leek & Potato Soup

1 T butter
2 cups sliced leeks (white parts and part of green)
1 cup celery, chopped
4 cups low-fat vegetable broth
3 cups potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup carrots, chopped
3/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup buttermilk (or more as desired)

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add leeks and celery. Cook and stir for 5 minutes, until veggies soften. Add broth, potatoes, carrots, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to med-low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Working in batches, transfer soup to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Return to pot. Stir in buttermilk.

Makes 6-8 servings.


Blog Widget by LinkWithin

4 comments:

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

Love that combo. I have the cookbook and they have great recipes. We still have nice weather in Ottawa. Hope it will last.

PG said...

Great minds think alike -- I bought the ingredients for leek and potato soup....

Love the leaves in the photos.

Nic said...

Great soup for winter, looks wonderful!

Chef Fresco said...

Looks delicious and so wonderfully fall! Thanks for the buttermilk idea - I've never thought to use it in soup.

Related Posts with Thumbnails