It’s Spring, and the potatoes at the farmers markets have been so beautiful! I have been making a lot of potato salad recipes lately (those recipes are soon to come!) but the temperature finally dropped a bit here in Los Angeles so I decided to take the opportunity to make my favorite recipe for Potato Leek Soup. It is ridiculously quick and easy, which makes it a great go-to meal if you need a fast mid-week dinner. Most importantly, you don’t have to be a vegan to enjoy this meatless meal 🙂
Potato Leek Soup
Serves 4
1 1/2 lbs. potatoes (red, new, Idaho, they all work)
2 large leeks
1 large shallot
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Clean the potatoes well, you can peel them or leave the skins on, then cut them into bite-sized pieces. Halve and slice the white and light green parts of the leeks and rinse well. Peel and roughly chop the shallot.
In a soup pot, heat your olive oil on medium high and add in the potatoes, leeks and shallots. Add in a pinch of salt and toss everything to coat in olive oil. Reduce the heat to medium and let cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.
Pour water over the potato mixture until just covered. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender.
When the potatoes are fork tender, use a potato masher to gently smash about half of the potatoes in the pot. This will leave you with a nice rich balance of creamy and chunky. Though depending on how you like your soup, you can smash even more or not at all.
Season with more salt if desired and serve topped with some freshly chopped parsley.
*You might have the idea to use broth instead of water in this recipe…. don’t. The flavors here are so delicate the broth will overwhelm them. Stick with the water 😉
Enjoy!
