Of all the winter soups that I make during the colder months, this leek and potato soup is by far my favourite and most comforting. The combination of leeks, which is in the onion family, plus the potato and celery, gives this soup a milky creamy taste that I really like.
As if the soup on its own is not good enough, am serving it with a very easy to make freshly baked homemade Biscuits. To start, you will need ;
Ingredients For Soup :
560 g Leeks ( 3 big ones )
300 g Potatoes ( 4 small ones )
90 g Celery ( 2 big sticks )
2 Garlic clove
3 Cups Stock
2 Tablespoons Cream
1 Tablespoon Oil
Salt / Pepper to taste
Ingredients For Biscuits :
350 g All-Purpose Flour ( 3 Cups)
113 g Cold Butter ( 8 Tablespoons )
180 g Cold Cream Yogurt / Butter Milk ( 3/4 Cup )
1 Cold Egg
25 g Granulated White Sugar (2 Tablespoons )
1 Small Carrot (2 Tablespoons )
1 Tablespoon Spring Onion
1 +1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
Process :
Step one; Start by cutting off the green part of leeks and wash the white part thoroughly. Cut the stem away, split each leek into half and check to make sure there are no sand in them and slice up .You can save the green part for when you make stock. Wash celery and potatoes and cut into bite sizes, then mince garlic.
Step two; In a medium size pot, add oil ( I used sunflower oil but use your preferred oil here ). Add in leeks, celery and garlic. Sauté until leeks shrink in size a bit, about 3 minutes. Add potatoes, pepper and salt, give it a stir, add stock and cover with lid. Allow it to cook for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are soft.
Step three; When the soup is done, let it cool for about 10 minutes. Using a liquidiser or a hand blender, cream the soup until it is nice and creamy. If you prefer a much more lighter cream soup, add a little more stock to thin it out. For me the consistency is perfect. Transfer the creamed soup into the pot but make sure it is clean first. if you need to season some more, you can do that at this point. Add cream ( optional ) and let is simmer just until you see bubbles on the surface of soup. Turn the heat off and your leek and potato cream soup is ready.
For the Biscuits;
Pre-heat your oven to 190º C, which is 375º F
Cut spring onion, shred the carrot. Add to flour then add baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Cut in cold butter, add yogurt/butter milk ( I usually use butter milk but when I don’t have any at home, I use yogurt and they both work fine ). Whisk the egg separately a bit and add to flour mix.
Using a spatula, combine a bit then switch to using your hands. Mix until it all comes together( if needed, add a little milk ) but do not cover mix as this will make the biscuits tight and tough. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop biscuit dough and lay then on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. You can also use a pastry knife to cut them as you please. Bake the biscuits in pre-heated oven for 12 minutes, then turn baking tray around so the back biscuits are now in front and bake for another 12 minutes.
Let biscuits cool down for about 5 minutes on a wire rack and enjoy with the delicious leek and potato cream soup. I garnished my leek and potato cream soup with some toasted sesame seeds, you can even garnish with chives or no garnish at all. Watch the full video of this recipe here.
Also check out some of my kids friendly meal recipes below:
Lentil Recipe that Children Love
A family favourite Potato Dessert Dish
