Last night, I decided to do away with a bunch of leeks by whipping up some sort of soup with them, mostly because I'd wanted to try vichysoisse for months. I can now say that, whatever it is I made last night, I ate it and it was fantastic.
- 3 leeks, chopped fine
- 6 red potatoes, cut thinly
- 2 cans of chicken broth
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
- 4 pieces bacon
- 1 pint cream
- garlic salt
- pepper to taste
- 1/4 tsp celery seed
- 1/4 cup mild cheddar, shredded
- 1/2 cup romano, grated
- 1/4 cup portobello mushrooms, chopped
- 1/4 cup butter
I rendered the fat out of the bacon first, then removed the bacon to a bowl and put the leeks, potatoes, and garlic in the pot to cook. After the leeks lost some volume, I seasoned the mess with the garlic salt, pepper, and celery seed, then added the chicken broth and took a stick blender to it. Once the soup had a chance to warm up again, I added the cheddar and romano, let them melt, and added the cream. Meanwhile, I sauteed the mushrooms in another skillet, then added them in.
It was pretty darn awesome. I'd wanted to add the bacon in again, crumbled, at the end, but it turned out to be pretty good without the bacon at all, so I had awesome soup AND extra bacon. That's pretty much win/win all around.