Watching someone else cook reminded me that I have all those wonderful vegetables from Lemon Tree just waiting for improvement.  Let’s start with a very, very simple soup that you can serve cold and impress the heck out of your dinner guests – ’cause let’s face it,  your family is pretty much impossible to please, let alone impress…

I started with I several bunches of leeks, sliced and then soaked and washed.  Since these are usually very, very dirty, it’s important that you remove all the grit – unless you use coarse pepper and can blame that.  If you use thick-skinned potatoes, you will have to peel them; I used new potatoes and only washed and quartered them.  The ratio of potato to leek is a matter of personal preference:  Love the bite of peppery onions – add more leeks.  Love potatoes – more of those!

Some recipes call for softening the leeks and potatoes in a neutral oil, which intensifies the flavor, but I’ve never felt it necessary, inasmuch as I use more of the dark green leek that has a stronger flavor.

Add liquids enough to cook, but not to cover, since you’ll get water from both the potatoes and leeks themselves.  You can also use a chicken or vegetable stock if you prefer.  Again, the flavor is strong enough with the darker greens that I don’t feel it necessary.  Cover and let cook over a medium flame.

Once everything is cooked thoroughly (before mush stage), remove from heat and allow to cool with the lid removed.  You can see here how the volume has greatly reduced  Do not attempt the next step with hot liquids (voice of experience here).

Ladle vegetable mixture and small amount of liquids into either a blender or processor.  I use a Vitamix ’cause it’s big and powerful.  The percentage of leeks to potatoes doesn’t matter at this point because it’s all getting dumped into the pot at the end.  Process, pulse, blend, whatever until you have a creamy consistency.  Pour into large pot and repeat until you’ve used all the vegetables.

Now you have a mostly pureed soup, but some of the shreds will have to be removed ’cause they’re tough suckers.  You can add heavy cream at this point if you wish.  Garnish with chives, thin slices of green onions or flat parsley.  If you added cream and serve it cold, you will be presenting Vichyssoise to your astonished dinner guests!

bon appétit!