Cooking up a storm! Potato & Leek Soup

I love to cook. I just don't do it very often because when you're flying solo, the thought of eating the same thing for a week straight to make sure food doesn't go to waste isn't a grand idea. BUT I've decided to start channeling my inner math Goddess (to adjust recipes for a single gals lifestyle), pull the dusty cookbooks off the shelves and get cooking (vegetarian and vegan style)!

One of my favorite foods is soup. I love it in all its various forms and incarnations. Broth based soups. Stews. Chili (it totally deserves its own category). I figured with a Michigan fall and winter right around the corner, today was the perfect day to try out a new recipe which turned out to be super simple and really delicious......Potato & Leek soup.

After a bit of internet research and flipping through a few of my cookbooks, I came to realize there are loads of different recipes to make this, but they are all essentially the same. For my recipe I used the following:

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
3 Leeks, coarsely chopped
1 Clove of garlic, minced
2 Cups Sliced White Mushrooms
4 Medium russet potatoes chopped (some recipes called for them to be peeled--I did not peel my potatoes)
2 Cups of vegetable broth
1/2 Cup of water

In a stock pot, I warmed the oil over medium heat before adding the leeks, garlic and mushrooms until they released their liquids.

 I then added the potatoes, broth and water and brought the whole thing to a boil. I let the whole thing simmer until the potatoes were tender before using my hand blender to puree the soup.




To serve, I added a little salt and pepper to taste and enjoyed it along side a piece of crusty French bread.

I would rate this recipe as a success although next time I think I'll try it without pureeing everything together (the soup is really, really thick). It really will be the perfect soup to have on a blustery winter evening.