creamy potato and leek soup..

when we picked up our bountiful basket last saturday there were these great leeks in it.. so pete says dang (yeah he didn't say dang but since this is a family friendly site we'll go with dang) those are big scallions.. i said they aren't scallions they are leeks and then explained to him what a leek was and what you could cook with one.. well he was so impressed he now knew this, at least i guess he was impressed with his new found knowledge, because he then proceeded to tell everyone we saw that weekend about the "dang" leeks.. hey jess ever seen a leek before? jess: no.. well they are these big blah blah blah.. and aunt robin made the best soup i've ever had blah blah.. hey dean ever hear of a leek before.. hey jimmy.. hey dad and so on and so forth.. so i am going to say he liked the soup.. and i will be requested to cook with leeks more often..

in our basket was also several potatoes so it was basically telling you to make potato and leek soup.. which is what i did.. hey when the bountiful basket gods tell you do something i suggest you follow their heed..

and much to my surprise it came out creamy, thick and hearty even though i used non fat plain yogurt, 2% milk and sour cream as my "cream".. definitely will make it into the menu rotation this fall/winter.. i googled potato and leek soup and found so many recipes with them all basically saying the same thing i really can't credit one recipe or even two for my version.. its a mish mosh of several..

creamy potato & leek soup

prep time: 20 minutes
cooking time: 1 hour
servings: 4

ingredients:

2 tblsp. butter
3 leeks, thinly sliced and cleaned*
1 medium onion, diced
5 white new potatoes, cleaned and scrubbed then diced (i never peel my potatoes just as an fyi)
3 1/2 cups chicken broth, basically you want enough to cover the potatoes
1/2 cup non fat plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup low fat sour cream
1/3 cup 2% milk
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
sour cream and chives as garnish (optional)

melt butter in a large dutch oven over medium heat.. add onions and leeks.. cook and stir frequently until  the veggies are soft.. about 10 minutes.. add your potatoes to the pot then add enough chicken broth to barely cover them.. continue cooking over medium heat until potatoes are tender..i used an immersion blender at this point and basically blended it still leaving some potato chunks (but you can use a regular blender or even a potato masher to get it to the desired consistency you want..) turn down the heat and keep stirring so it doesn't burn.. i then added the yogurt, sour cream and milk, salt and pepper.. and whisked .. then let it simmer on low for about 20 minutes.. if you think it needs to be thicker by all means add more yogurt or sour cream... once everything is heated through and smelling yummy then ladle up the soup into bowls garnish with a dollop of sour cream and chopped chives and serve with toasted bread..seriously folks this stuff is good!!

* make sure to clean your leeks thoroughly.. and slice only the white and light part of the green.. once they were sliced i added them to cold water swished them around a bit let all the dirt and debris fall to the bottom of the bowl then with my hand pulled them out and added them to a colander to drain..