I got a sweet email from my husband after lunch today. I know an email might sound a little ‘business like’ and impersonal but the truth is, I love these little interruptions when I receive them during my working day. Generally, they consist of just a sentence or two and when they are not about the practicalities of our busy family life, ie. “who is on the kids basketball run tonight”, “what time will you be home after class?” (okay, so I don’t love these ones quite so much), they are usually to say something pretty sweet like “hope you are having a beautiful day, beautiful”. Nice catch huh? -You bet your cotton socks he is!
Today’s email was simply :
“Bloody lovely soup darl. Thanks. xx”.
You see, he’s a bit of a sandwich man during the week (which I personally would find insanely boring day in & day out ) but he makes and packs his own every morning before he heads out the door for the day ahead. I guess now that you know this, you might think that it didn’t have to be the best of soups to excite his taste buds and break up the sandwich rut and yes, I think you would be right. This soup might not be the best but for mine, it is pretty damn close. This soup is one of my all time favourites. It is simplicity at it’s best and I find it very warming and very special and I wanted to share it with you here also.
I know many of us bang on about starting off with the best quality ingredients that your money can buy (or grow) but please allow me (in fear of sounding a little preachy like) ……this truly is the single most important fact to making your end product awesome. This soup was inspired by my organic veggie box (straight from the farm), courtesy of Rohan from Whole larder love. In this mystery box and amongst many other gems were some pretty fabulous spuds and leeks which inspired me revisit an old classic. I took a photo of this soup late last week and posted on instagram and facebook , “sometimes the classic’s are the best”. I believe this with all my heart.
Enjoy!
Potato and leek soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 medium potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
3 large leeks,cleaned and thinly sliced
6 cups vegetable stock
Sea salt
The juice of 1/2 a lemon (more if required, to taste)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup full cream milk
Freshly picked flat leaf parsley, to serve
Freshly cracked black pepper
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the leek and potato. Cook, stirring from time to time, until the vegetables have begun to soften and brown slightly, about 8 minutes.
Add the vegetable stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
Blend until smooth – I find this much easier using a stick blender or you can of course, carefully transfer to a blender or food processor but this also means more dishes so why would you ?! Add the cream and milk, and season to taste with salt (to taste) and lemon juice.
Serve with freshly cracked black pepper and parsley leaves.