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Creamy Potato Celery Root Leek Soup
Really, the title of this recipe should be “Gotta Get Rid of Veggies in the Refrigerator Soup.” Tomorrow I leave for three weeks and my mission the past few days has been to live from what remains in my fridge and pantry, especially fruits and vegetables.
Last week I bought a large, handsome celery root. And Yukon Gold potatoes, and some leeks. I planned to make a mash of sorts but got busy and my lovely vegetables sat around, ignored.
Then the weather turned very fallish and coolish, the days shortened and I felt like soup would fit the bill. Hence the soup you see: made up using only what was on hand. Normally I’d have chicken stock in my freezer but I was too lazy to defrost it, and wanted to see if Better Than Bouillon paste would work. It did, and this soup takes no time from stovetop to table. Perfect and filling on a cool, fall day.
I might also mention that you can eat this chilled if you feel like a cold soup. It’s really good, although I am usually partial to hot soup.
Potato Celery Root Leek Soup
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
- 3 large leeks
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 large Yukon Gold potato, peeled and cubed into ½ inch pieces
- 1 fist-size celery root, peeled and cubed the same size as the potatoes
- 8 cups chicken stock (I used Better Than Bouillon according to the directions on the jar)
- 4-6 Tbsp or more 2% milk or cream if desired, or more stock
- Salt
- White pepper
- Fresh chopped chives, dill, parsley or tarragon to serve
Instructions
Prepare the leeks by cutting off the stem and root end, slice in half the long way, clean out any mud in the flesh and slice the light green and white part into 1/8 inch half circles.
In a 3-4 quart sauce pan, saute leeks with butter for five minutes, add potatoes and stock and simmer 30 minutes or until very, very soft. Since you are going to puree this, it can be mushy.
I use a hand blender and just stick the blade end into the soup pot. Blend until smooth. Add milk (or cream if you want to be decadent) to thin the soup to your liking, salt and pepper and serve. Garnish with fresh herbs. Or add more cream, salt and serve cold.
If you want this to be vegetarian, use vegetable broth and thin it with additional broth.
Make a huge green salad, slice some fruit and call this a fantastic dinner!
