We all have our tried and trusted recipes that don’t require much thought, always hit the spot and can be hard to remember the exact amounts that go into the pot. This is one of my top ones. Thanks to a chance decision to buy soup in a juice bar across from the health food store I worked in, in St Andrews, Scotland, I discovered the joy of adding mint to what is a fairly common soup dish. The mint really gave the soup an added depth and ‘zing’ to it, especially welcome as I needed some comfort food that day while suffering from a nasty sinus infection, the first I’d ever had. So after slugging down various juice concoctions and a ton of wheatgrass , I needed something a little warmer and soothing to my knackered fed up soul. It was a revelation. I immediately played about with a recipe I already used and started adding mint. Everyone raved about it! My other half couldn’t get enough, my mum and dad loved it so much that they took some back to Ireland with them on one of their trips across to see me, Coppertop has loved it since the first time she tried it at about 7 months old and I use it as my go to recipe when feeling under the weather. So it’s not too surprising that as I sit here typing this up I have a mild sinus infection and I’m feeling a bit ‘blah’, so out came old faithful today to help make me feel better. As usual, it was well received by both my daughter and my mother so I thought I really should share one of our favourite cold blah-day recipes, also enjoyed on many a non blah-day 🙂
LEEK AND POTATO SOUP (serves 4, generously)
Ingredients
- 4 cups of leeks, thinly sliced ( about 2 large leeks)
- 4 cups of potatoes, diced
- 5 cups ( 1 litre) vegetable stock
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley
- 1/3 cup roughly chopped mint leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp oil
Method
Heat the oil in a pot over low heat. Add the leeks and potatoes, softening gently for 20 minutes, stirring regularly to avoid sticking. Add the hot vegetable stock , bring to the boil, then lower to a medium heat for around 10 – 15 minutes. Take off the heat and stir through the fresh herbs. I always remember reading somewhere that if you’re using fresh herbs you should add right at the very end to retain the freshness and vibrancy of the flavour whereas when using dried it should be added at the start to allow the flavours to develop. Allow the soup to cool slightly, then either use a stick blender to blend until desired consistency ( I like to still retain some chunks of leek and potato through mine) or tip 3/4 into a blender, blend until smooth then stir into the remainder. Serve with warm crusty bread and a dose of sympathy for yourself if it’s a blah-day 😉 I hope you enjoy this, would love to hear your feedback if you try it!
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I just made this and it was AMAZING, even my 4 year old son ate his whole bowl and said “that was soooo good”
Awww, thank you SO much for letting me know and taking the time to comment! I love hearing that it’s a success, especially as my 3 yr old Coppertop adores it too 🙂 hope you have a great day , let me know if you try any of my other recipes xx
This recipe is AMAZING! I make it every two weeks or so. I freeze some: that’s if my boyfriend doesn’t get to it first!
I’m gluten and dairy intolerant, so this soup is such a nice recipe to have as a staple. The blended potatoes make it so creamy! I leave some potatoes un-blended to make it chunky.
On one occasion, I made it with fresh sage with the parsley, and that was good, too.
Thanks so much for sharing! It’s such a part of my rotation that I know it by heart! <3
Thank you SO much for sharing that Christine, it’s wonderful to know that one of our favourites here is becoming a favourite in other households too! I adore sage so I’ll have to try it with that too 🙂 I also leave a few potatoes whole! Thanks for taking the time to comment, I hope you find other inspiration here, my dad can’t have gluten either and I’m trying to move away from having it so much, so there’ll probably be more gluten free recipes coming soon 🙂 xx