This is a fairly traditional winter soup in Scotland. It might be in Wales too. That's the home of giant prize-winning leeks. This might even be a popular soup all over Britain, but I would only be guessing if I said it was. Nowadays it is often served pureed, but I'm not a great fan of pureed things so I'm going to give you a more traditional version of the recipe.
One thing I should mention about leeks is that they always seem to have mud in them, so you have to be careful when cleaning them or you'll have gritty soup. You won't impress anyone with that. I don't know why the mud is always there. I've used leeks all over the world and they're always the same. It may be the way they're grown. Our neighbour used to grow them when I was a kid and I seem to remember him poking a hole in the earth with the wooden handle of a rake and dropping a baby leek into it. That was it. He didn't firm the soil round them or fill in the hole. Once he had done all the rows he went over them all again with a watering can and filled the holes with water. I think he did that. I may be making it up, as it was an awful long time ago. I have a problem with that kind of thing - whether my memories are true or false. If it's true then maybe that's the way leeks are grown everywhere. That would explain how the mud always gets right into the centre. At the time, I just assumed it was my neighbour's secret method.
To make sure you get all the mud out of your leeks, I advise the following. Take a leek and strip off any worn and withered leaves from the outside. Next, cut the top off just below where the leaves start splaying out. Take a look at the cross section of the white, firm part to see if there is any mud in there. If there is, you may have to cut off a bit more. If there isn't great - you just need to give that part a quick rinse and slice it up. The green leafy bit needs more attention and if you have a really big leek, you might be tempted to just throw this part it away, but don't. This is the tastiest bit for making soup. Use a knife to open up the leaves - the edges are curled inward and joined at the bottom to form a kind of tube. Cut along where they're joined and separate the leaves out. Give them a good rinse, paying particular attention to the inside surface nearest the bottom. When you've done that, trim any yellow or badly frayed tops and that's you ready to go. Don't worry if the green bits look a bit worn and scabby. That's okay. They spend a long time in the earth and even grow in the winter so they're bound to look a bit rough at times.
The quantities here are, as you can see, for over five litres of soup. Cut them in half if you want to make less. I didn't need to say that, did I?
Ingredients
1.5 to 2.5 kilos of potatoes
1 medium leek
1 onion
1 carrot
3 or 4 vegetable stock cubes or equivalent
A few crushed black peppercorns
2 or 3 bayleaves
Vegetable oil and butter or margarine
Salt
A few sprigs of parsley or dill for garnish
Put 5 litres of water in a very large pot and put it on to boil while you prepare your vegetables as it will take a while to boil. Peel and chop the potatoes into small pieces. Throw them into the water as you chop them. Chop up your leek and throw it in after the potatoes. Add the bayleaves and if the water's boiling, turn the heat down a little.
Chop the onion finely and fry it gently in a 50/50 mixture of oil and butter or margarine (you can use just oil or just butter/marg. if you want). While the onion is frying, grate the carrot. Add it to the frying pan when the onion has browned well. Stir for a minute or two until the carrot is soft, then add the contents of the frying pan to the soup pot. Add stock and pepper but wait a bit before adding salt to see how salty the stock makes it.
The soup will be ready about an hour after it started to boil. Switch off the heat and stir in some chopped greenery before serving.
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