Leek & Potato Soup

I love soup and a great way to get vegetables into me fast is making a soup. The flavour of this leek and potato soup has been amplified with the addition of anchovies and miso. Trust me this is a great way to get that umami flavour into your food. The cream is not essential here, you can definitely leave it out and add more stock or use a plant based milk like almond or macadamia for a vegan option. I had the cream so I used it. A few shakes of smoked paprika to garnish also give it a lively flavour to amplify the vegetables. For a quieter flavour try your favourite herbs instead. Leeks love tarragon, thyme, sage and parsley. I used celery leaves and they worked too. For more soup options take a look at this roundup of soup

Sharing a bowl of soup with someone you love, who is going through grief, has a quiet way of telling them you love them. “I know you can’t eat right now and don’t want to either, but just try this to keep up your strength for the coming days” Taking one day at a time to nurture yourself and put yourself back together again can seem like an insurmountable task. Soup is honest, soup is comforting, soup is quiet. You can sit quietly in the comfort of a warm bowl of soup and not even speak if you don’t feel like it. It’s a reassuring hug to help you through all the hurt.

Leek & Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 300 g leeks
• One clove garlic crushed
• 30 g celery chopped
• 3 anchovy fillets
• 250 g potatoes peeled and diced
• 350 g courgettes sliced
• 2 tablespoons miso paste
• 1 tablespoon hot English mustard powder
• 2 L vegetable stock
• 45 g crème fraîche
• 250 ml cream or almond milk
• 1 tin butter beans
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Place frying pan on a medium high heat add olive oil. When oil is hot add leeks and stir for three minutes until translucent.
  3 tablespoons olive oil, 300 g leeks
• Add the celery, garlic clove and anchovies cook for three minutes
  One clove garlic, 30 g celery, 3 anchovy fillets
• Potatoes and courgettes and cook for a further three minutes
  250 g potatoes, 350 g courgettes sliced
• Stir in the miso paste and hot English mustard and add the vegetable stock, (see notes). Cook for 20 minutes until potato cubes are soft
  2 tablespoons miso paste, 1 tablespoon hot English mustard powder, 2 L vegetable stock
• Blend the soup with a high-speed stick blender the crème fraîche, cream, butter beans, and white wine vinegar and blend again add stock or water if the consistency of the soup is too thick
  45 g crème fraîche, 250 ml cream, 1 tin butter beans, 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, Salt and pepper to taste
• Serve with sourdough toast, garnish with smoked paprika or any other spice of your choice

Notes

Vegetable stock – use all the peels and chopped off ends of the vegetables for the stock.  I place them in a separate pot and cover in lightly salted water.  I was making an asparagus quiche at the time so I used the peels from the asparagus too.  I usually peel about 3-5cm off the bottom of asparagus.  There is so much nutrition found in the skins of vegetables.  This is a great way to extract those nutrients.  Strain the stock into the soup pot and discard the pulp in your compost. 

For a vegetarian option leave out anchovy fillets and add an extra tablespoon of miso paste