September has arrived with crispness, backpacks, and school buses. This time of year is synonymous with soup. There’s just something special about dipping freshly baked bread into a bowl of steaming soup. This recipe is a long time favorite of mine for its velvety smoothness, comforting flavor, and simple ingredients.
You’ll need:
- Potatoes (1 per person, +1, cubed)
- Leeks (2-3, sliced)
- Onions (2 medium, diced)
- Garlic (3-5 cloves, diced)
- Bacon (1/2 slice per person)
- Whole milk (1 cup)
- Chicken (or Vegetable) stock (2 cups)
- Garlic powder (2 tsp)
- Salt & Pepper (2 tsp, to taste)
- 10 minutes prep
- 20 minutes cooking
- Serves 6-8
Step 1: Potatoes
- Wash and remove any bad spots, but keep most of the skin
- Slice the potatoes in 1/2 inch wide slices
- Turn over and remove the bottom slice so they lay flat
- Cut slices length-wise about 1/2 inch wide
- Keep the slices together, and rotate a half turn
- Cut the slices into bite-sized pieces, about 1/2 inch wide
- Place into a large pot
- Cover with water and add a teaspoon of salt
- Bring to a boil
- Remove from the heat and drain half of the water
- Add the chicken stock
- Add garlic powder, salt, and pepper
Step 2: Leeks, onions, garlic, and bacon!
- Wash the leeks thoroughly
- Slice into circles about 1/4 inch wide
- Dice the onions and garlic
- Cut the bacon into bite size pieces
- Cook the bacon for about 3 minutes
- Remove the bacon and place on a paper towel
- Add the onion, garlic, and leeks to the bacon grease (yes!)
- Sauté for about 5 minutes until the leeks and onion start becoming translucent
- Set aside a spoonful per person of the leek/onion mixture (just trust me)
Step 3: Combine Step 1 and Step 2
- Stir in the sautéed leeks, onion, and garlic to the potatoes
- Stir in the milk
- Cook for about 5-10 minutes to bring back up to temperature
- Turn the heat off
- Purée the ingredients using an immersion blender
- If you don’t have one of these amazing tools, then use a blender
Step 4: Bowling (like plating, but a bowl)
- Ladle into bowls
- Place a spoonful of leek/onion mixture you set aside in Step 2 in the middle of the soup
- Add several pieces of bacon on top
- Spice it up with some jalapeno hot sauce, at least that’s what I do
- Serve with some fresh bread
- Enjoy!
This sounds very good! And, seeing that you posted it on my late fathers birthday, this is a sign for me!! My wife is working today, she LOVES this kind of soup, so I guess I will surprise her with it tonight!!
Thanks for such a great comment and sentiment. Would love to know how it turns out.
how many potatos did you use in this recipie
I used one large or two medium per person, plus an extra one. One 5 pound bag should be plenty.
This looks amazing Nathan! I’ll try it out when I’m not so pregnant! The photos look great too :)
Thanks Jenny, maybe we’ll come up and visit so I can make this for you!
How in the world can you make me hungry at 3:01am? I want this NOW! ch:
Sorry, maybe you shouldn’t be up at 3am! :)