"Cream" of Roasted Potato Leek Soup

I made roasted potato leek soup today for one of the Shavuos meals. I have actually blogged about this a while ago here, but I updated it a tad, and of course I had to incorporate some CHEESE into it. The "cream" is soy milk, so it is more forgiving...


"Cream" of Roasted Potato Leek Soup

-3 leeks, cut the hairy end off, as well as the dark green tops
-2 tbsp. Earth Balance, & 1 tbsp. of olive oil
-1 tbsp. sugar-6 cloves garlic
-8 medium-large Yukon gold potatoes (or 2 lb. bag)
-Salt & pepper
-1.5 cups packed spinach or kale
-Freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley-Roughly 6 cups of liquid: vegetable broth + water
-Skim milk
-Preheat oven to 450. Cube the potatoes, peel & halve the garlic, toss all with olive oil, garlic salt, and pepper and roast for about 30 minutes. That extra step really makes the soup taste better, but you can do without if on a time crunch.
-In the meantime, slice the leeks down the center, and then chop up into half moons. Soak in water and a little vinegar (helps release the sand- leeks are notoriously sandy/dirty) & swish 
-Once drained, saute the leeks in the EB & olive oil in a pot, season with salt and pepper. After 5 minutes add the sugar. This helps caramelize the leeks.

-Once the leeks are softened, add the roasted potatoes, & season more with salt & pepper
-Add the liquid- low-sodium vegetable broth / water. Better to add less now & more later as opposed to having it be too thin in the end.
-Bring to boil & then lower heat to medium-low
-Cook about 30 minutes, until the vegis are all soft enough to puree
-Add the spinach or kale, and the parsley. Puree with a hand blender & then season more if needed, and add more broth or water if you want it thinner. Stream in some soy milk to give the soup a "creamy" effect.


I snuck a bowl for lunch, and served it for myself with a garnish of parsley, a goat cheese medallion (which slowly melts into the soup- so yumm) & FRESH potato chips! When I was cleaning up I noticed one lone potato on the counter that I forgot to roast for the soup, what was I gonna do with one potato??? Potato chips! I cut them very thin & fried them in batches (for the first time ever- I always make baked potato chips) in canola.. They were a heavenly indulgence & very easy- heat a 1/4 cup of oil [not olive] in a small saucepan, drop around 3 thin slices at a time and move them around. Lay on a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt or Lawry's garlic salt. Avi kindly left me 2 chips for my soup :-)

Even though it's practically summer, I couldn't resist making an excellent soup!


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