This is a very simple and very tasty recipe for classic potato and leek soup. Because this is a puréed soup, it’s nice to serve it with some sort of garnish, like toasted breadcrumbs. It’s a simple but very tasty touch — I like eating my soup with a spoonful of the crumbs in every bite.
Nearly every time I pick up the weekly farmshare, I am reminded of the saying, “What grows together, goes together.”
At the height of the summer, each produce box looks designed to make ratatouille . When the basil is exploding, so are the tomatoes, giving us no reason not to make Caprese salads every night for dinner. When the cilantro is abounding, so are the chilies, leaving us no choice but to make large vats of pico de gallo and sit around the bowl with a heap of chips. There’s a reason the hardy herbs like sage, rosemary, and thyme pair so well with the hardy squashes, potatoes, and root vegetables of all kinds.
The past few weeks, potatoes and leeks have been snuggling in the produce share, and though I often separate the two — leeks go into this pasta carbonara , potatoes become oven fries — it was time to unite them. I would be lying, too, if I didn’t admit the influence of one of you (hey, Kathleen 👋 ), who emailed me last weekend with questions about focaccia but also to say: “I was looking for a potato leek soup recipe (CSA this week) & was shocked one did not exist on your site!”
That IS shocking.
I referenced a few recipes from a few favorite old books ( Love Soup and A New Way to Cook ) and decided to keep it very simple: sweat leeks covered for about 10 minutes until they begin to melt, add peeled and diced potatoes along with vegetable stock , simmer till the potatoes collapse, purée until smooth, add a splash of cream, and crack lots of fresh pepper over top.
Because it is such a simple soup, its success lies in the details. If you are up for it, I encourage you to make the vegetable stock from scratch, which requires all of about 5 minutes of hands-on work. It simmers for 45 minutes, and when it’s done, you’ll have two quarts of highly seasoned earthy liquid to use in any soup , stew, or risotto your heart desires.
Also, because this is a puréed soup (i.e. it will lack textural variety), it’s nice to serve it with some sort of garnish. Here I’ve toasted fresh bread crumbs with a few tablespoons of olive oil; then mixed them with fresh chives and lemon zest. It’s a simple but very tasty touch — I like eating my soup with a spoonful of the crumbs in every bite.
Of course, a slice of toasty bread for dunking will do.
5 More Soups To Make Right Now
- Lighter, Better Broccoli-Cheddar Soup
- Favorite Lentil Soup
- Curried Carrot-Ginger Soup
- Simple Chicken Noodle Soup
- Favorite Cabbage Soup
How to Make Potato-Leek Soup
Gather your ingredients:
Slice the leeks and soak them:
Drain them by scooping them out:
Sauté them in a few tablespoons of olive oil:
After 10 minutes covered, they’ll look like this:
Peel and dice two pounds of potatoes:
Add them to the pot along with…
… vegetable stock, chicken stock, or water:
Bring it to a simmer:
Then simmer till the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes.
Purée until smooth; then add a little bit of cream…
… and return to the stovetop to simmer for a few minutes more:
To serve, toast up some b r ead or make some toasty, herby bread crumbs: purée some stale bread in the food processor and chop up some chives or parsley.
Toast the bread crumbs stovetop in a few tablespoons of olive oil:
Then add the herbs and lemon zest:
Description
This is a very simple and very tasty recipe for classic potato and leek soup. Because this is a puréed soup, it’s nice to serve it with some sort of garnish, like toasted breadcrumbs. It’s a simple but very tasty touch — I like eating my soup with a spoonful of the crumbs in every bite.
If you are up for it, I encourage you to make the vegetable stock from scratch, which requires all of about 5 minutes of hands-on work. I used to make homemade chicken stock for nearly every soup I made, but now, more often than not, I use vegetable stock, which is just as tasty and takes a fraction of the time. If you don’t have time to make vegetable or chicken stock, I would use water, and if you have a bay leaf on hand, add it to the pot along with the water.
For the soup:
- 4 leeks, thinly sliced, to yield 4 to 6 cups
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt
- 2 lbs. Potatoes, such as Yukon Gold or whatever variety you have on hand, peeled and cut into 1 -inch pieces
- 8 cups vegetable stock , chicken stock , or water, see notes above
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- ½ cup heavy cream
For the herby bread crumbs (optional):
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1.5 cups fresh bread crumbs
- Pinch sea salt
- A few tablespoons of minced chives or parsley
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Place the leeks in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Let stand for 5-10 minutes to allow any dirt to settle. After the 5-10 minutes, scoop the leeks from the bowl of water and transfer them to a sieve. The leeks do not need to be completely dry.
- In a large pot, heat the oil with the leeks over high heat. Add a pinch of salt. When you hear the leeks begin to sizzle, give them a stir, cover the pot, and immediately turn the heat to low. Cook covered for 10 minutes. Remove the lid, allowing any water trapped in the lid to drip back down into the pot. Give the leeks a stir.
- Add the potatoes and enough of the stock to cover the potatoes completely. Crack pepper over top. Season with a big pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and cook at a gentle simmer until the potatoes are knife tender and beginning to fall apart, about 20 to 30 minutes. Add more stock or water as needed if the liquid level reduces too much.
- When the potatoes are done, use an immersion blender to purée the soup until smooth or transfer the soup to a food processor or blender and purée until smooth — if using a blender, be sure to allow the soup to cool somewhat before blending to avoid exploding lids. Add water or more stock as needed to thin the soup to the right consistency.
- Return the soup to the pot and add the cream. Stir to combine. Again, if the soup is too thick, add water or stock until it is the right consistency. Simmer for just a few minutes more. Taste and adjust with more salt and pepper to taste. To serve ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle some of the herby bread crumbs over top (see below).
- To make the bread crumbs: In a large skillet, toast the bread crumbs with the olive oil and a pinch of salt over medium heat stirring frequently, until the crumbs are evenly golden, 5 to 10 minutes. Taste the crumbs for seasoning. Add more salt if you wish and pepper to taste. Add the herbs and the lemon zest, if using, and stir to combine. Toast for another minute; then remove from the heat and transfer to a serving bowl.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is a very simple and very tasty recipe for classic potato and leek soup. Because this is a puréed soup, it’s nice to serve it with some sort of garnish, like toasted breadcrumbs. It’s a simple but very tasty touch — I like eating my soup with a spoonful of the crumbs in every bite.
If you are up for it, I encourage you to make the vegetable stock from scratch, which requires all of about 5 minutes of hands-on work. I used to make homemade chicken stock for nearly every soup I made, but now, more often than not, I use vegetable stock, which is just as tasty and takes a fraction of the time. If you don’t have time to make vegetable or chicken stock, I would use water, and if you have a bay leaf on hand, add it to the pot along with the water.
For the soup:
- 4 leeks, thinly sliced, to yield 4 to 6 cups
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt
- 2 lbs. Potatoes, such as Yukon Gold or whatever variety you have on hand, peeled and cut into 1 -inch pieces
- 8 cups vegetable stock , chicken stock , or water, see notes above
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- ½ cup heavy cream
For the herby bread crumbs (optional):
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1.5 cups fresh bread crumbs
- Pinch sea salt
- A few tablespoons of minced chives or parsley
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Place the leeks in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Let stand for 5-10 minutes to allow any dirt to settle. After the 5-10 minutes, scoop the leeks from the bowl of water and transfer them to a sieve. The leeks do not need to be completely dry.
- In a large pot, heat the oil with the leeks over high heat. Add a pinch of salt. When you hear the leeks begin to sizzle, give them a stir, cover the pot, and immediately turn the heat to low. Cook covered for 10 minutes. Remove the lid, allowing any water trapped in the lid to drip back down into the pot. Give the leeks a stir.
- Add the potatoes and enough of the stock to cover the potatoes completely. Crack pepper over top. Season with a big pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and cook at a gentle simmer until the potatoes are knife tender and beginning to fall apart, about 20 to 30 minutes. Add more stock or water as needed if the liquid level reduces too much.
- When the potatoes are done, use an immersion blender to purée the soup until smooth or transfer the soup to a food processor or blender and purée until smooth — if using a blender, be sure to allow the soup to cool somewhat before blending to avoid exploding lids. Add water or more stock as needed to thin the soup to the right consistency.
- Return the soup to the pot and add the cream. Stir to combine. Again, if the soup is too thick, add water or stock until it is the right consistency. Simmer for just a few minutes more. Taste and adjust with more salt and pepper to taste. To serve ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle some of the herby bread crumbs over top (see below).
- To make the bread crumbs: In a large skillet, toast the bread crumbs with the olive oil and a pinch of salt over medium heat stirring frequently, until the crumbs are evenly golden, 5 to 10 minutes. Taste the crumbs for seasoning. Add more salt if you wish and pepper to taste. Add the herbs and the lemon zest, if using, and stir to combine. Toast for another minute; then remove from the heat and transfer to a serving bowl.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Find it online : https://alexandracooks.com/2021/10/05/simple-potato-leek-soup/
A few weeks ago I was flipping through Yotam Ottolenghi’s Simple and came across a stunning photo of mashed potatoes. They swooshed across the platter, creating peaks and valleys, an herby olive oil pooled all around. The recipe was titled “aromatic olive oil mash”.
Photos of mashed potatoes typically don’t get my juices flowing, but this one did. And while I’m sure the recipe, which called for making a garlicky oil infused with thyme, mint, and lemon zest, is delicious, I decided to go a different route: I would make Sally Schneider’s tried-and-true buttermilk mashed potatoes from A New Way to Cook and top it with the scallion-cilantro “sizzle” I use in this homemade ranch dip .
As Ina says: How bad can that be?
Friends: these potatoes! I don’t think I’ll be able to serve mashed potatoes any other way. Not only are they visually very appealing, but they’re also just so darn tasty, creamy and tangy thanks to the buttermilk, and bright and spicy thanks to the herb-and-chili infused olive oil.
Because I’ve never shared Sally’s mashed potato recipe, let me tell you a little bit about it. True to many of Sally’s recipes, this one calls for very few enrichments, relying on big flavor ingredients and techniques instead.
In this recipe she uses whole milk buttermilk because it has a natural creaminess yet is far lower in fat than milk or cream. She also uses some of the reserved potato-cooking liquid to thin the mash as needed. And finally, only after the potatoes have absorbed the liquid, Sally adds a single tablespoon of butter. By adding the butter at the end, she says, “the butter stays on the surface of the potatoes, its flavor readily discernible, imparting a truly rich finish.”
Every time I make these potatoes I am astonished there is no cream and very little butter — they taste far richer than they actually are. And, as I noted above, while this herb-infused oil will be a must for me from here on out, I only spoon it over half of the potatoes, keeping the remaining half ungarnished for the children and any other mashed potato purists in attendance.
In the recipe box below, you’ll also find a recipe for another favorite variation of these potatoes: roasted garlic. For this one, you roast two heads of garlic; then you squeeze the soft, buttery, caramelized cloves into the purée. It’s a subtle touch, but one that adds a nice earthiness and slight sweetness, too.
But before we get to the recipe, can we talk mashing gear?
Best Tools for Mashed Potatoes
The above-pictured potato masher is a new tool in my arsenal, and I am super impressed by how well it works and very happy to have it because it has streamlined the mashed potato-making process for me.
Prior to buying it, I always used the below-pictured food mill or the ricer for mashed potatoes, and while both of those tools make for especially smooth purées, I don’t love the experience of using either: each requires using an additional bowl, each is a little awkward to use as the potatoes get stuck in various crevices, and each is kind of a pain to clean. (There’s also always the initial problem of locating them 🤣)
A potato masher to a food mill is not unlike what an immersion blender is to a food processor — a tool that gets the job done, maybe not as perfectly but still very effectively and definitely more efficiently.
Final note: I’m sure most of you know this, but using a food processor is not a good idea for mashed potatoes because the intense whipping process gives the potatoes a gummy texture.
How to Make Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes, Step by Step
Gather your potatoes. I’m using Yukon Golds here.
Peel and roughly chop the potatoes.
Place them in a pot and cover them with cold water.
Bring them to a simmer and boil for 45 minutes. Before draining, reserve some of the cooking liquid.
Drain them; then return them to the pot over low heat and let them cook for a few minutes to dry out.
Add buttermilk, reserved cooking liquid, salt, and pepper.
Then mash until mostly smooth. I love this potato masher.
Once mostly mashed, add a tablespoon of butter, and beat further. You can switch to a spoon or spatula at this point.
You can stop right there, or… jazz them up:
Herby “Ranch” Mashed Potatoes
This is my favorite way to eat mashed potatoes. If you’ve made this homemade ranch dip , the process will feel very familiar. Gather scallions and cilantro. (Omit the cilantro if you hate it.)
Slice the scallions, chop the cilantro, and transfer them to a small skillet with olive oil and crushed red pepper flakes.
Cook over medium heat until the herbs begin to soften and sizzle.
Transfer mashed potatoes to a serving dish; then spoon the herby oil over top. (Note: I only garnish half the potatoes with this herby dressing and I leave half plain for the kids.)
How to Make Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
To make roasted garlic mashed potatoes, trim away the tops of two heads of garlic.
Place each head on a small sheet of foil. Drizzle with olive oil. Curl up the sides of the foil to make an enclosure. Pour a tablespoon of water into the pouch. Close the foil sides to make a tight pouch; then transfer to a 425ºF oven for 35-45 minutes.
Open the pouches to find nicely caramelized, butter-soft cloves — these are heavenly spread over toast.
Squeeze out the cloves; then transfer to your mashed potatoes, and stir to combine.
You can combine the roasted garlic mashed potatoes with the herby dressing if you wish:
As noted above, the base recipe for the mashed potatoes as well as the roasted garlic variation comes from Sally Schneider’s A New Way to Cook , which was my cooking bible for many years.
I truly could eat this whole bowl:
Description
Adapted from Sally Schneider’s A New Way To Cook .
Notes:
Potatoes: If possible use something like Yellow Finns or Yukon Golds, which become extremely creamy when mashed. If made with baking potatoes, the result will be grainy and watery.
Gear: For the smoothest potatoes, pass the potatoes through a food mill or a ricer before adding the buttermilk and reserved cooking liquid in step 2. As noted in the post, I love this Zyliss Potato Masher.
Buttermilk: Use whole milk buttermilk if possible. Low-fat buttermilk won’t impart the same creaminess and richness, and it might impart more tartness as well. The original recipe calls for warming the buttermilk, but I find as long as I measure it and leave it at room temperature when I start boiling the potatoes, it works just fine.
Herby garnish: As noted in the post, I spoon the garnish over only half of the potatoes, and I leave half of the potatoes plain for the children. If you like the idea of using this garnish over all of the potatoes, I would double it, and use a larger skillet.
Roasted Garlic Variation: After the potatoes are mashed, add two heads of roasted garlic cloves to the pot. Stir to combine.
For the buttermilk mashed potatoes:
- 1 3/4 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks (you’ll have about 1 1/2 pounds of potatoes post peeling)
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature, see notes above
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Flaky sea salt, if you have it
For the herby garnish (see notes above before making):
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced, to yield a heaping half cup or so
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 to 4 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
- Place the potatoes and the 2 teaspoons of the salt in a medium saucepan, add enough water to cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to moderate and simmer until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes. Drain, reserving at least 1/4 cup of the cooking water — I like to reserve at least a cup of the cooking liquid.
- Return the potatoes to the pan and set over low heat, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, to let the potatoes dry out a little. (See notes above if using a ricer or food mill.) Add the buttermilk, ¼ cup of the reserved cooking liquid, pepper to taste, and a pinch of sea salt. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher until you have a coarse purée. Add the butter and mash again. Once the potatoes are as mashed up as possible you can switch to a wooden spoon or spatula and beat them further. Taste. Add more sea salt and pepper to taste. Thin with more reserved cooking liquid if desired.
- To make the herby sizzle: Heat the oil, scallions, crushed red pepper flakes, and cilantro in a small skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, until the scallions and red pepper flakes start to visually and audibly sizzle. Season with a pinch of sea salt and remove from the heat.
- To serve: Transfer half of the potatoes to a serving dish. Use the back of a spoon to swoosh the potatoes around a bit, creating peaks and valleys. Spoon the herby oil over top, allowing the oil to pool in the crevices. Crack more pepper over top and, if you wish, season with another pinch of sea salt.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
