Potato Leek Soup by Colleen Guenther

Here is a recipe that I have created for Potato Leek Soup. It is simply amazing!!!!!!! I really owe it all to the Bouquet Garni!!!

What you need:

3 tbls of olive oil

1/2 stick butter

Bouquet Garni (in a cheese cloth wrap 6 fresh rosemary stems, handful of italian flat-leafed parsley, teaspoon of whole black peppercorns and two bay leaves)

6 leeks (chop and use the white parts and a little of the light green parts)

4 scallions chopped

4 shallots

4 stalks celery chopped

6 cloves of garlic

2.5lbs of buttercream potatoes (I bought the 2lb bags and cut up 1 1/3 bags in 1/2 cubes)

32 oz. of chicken or vegetable stock

water

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Sautee the leeks, scallions, shallots, celery and garlic in the olive oil and butter until soft: 4-6 minutes

Once that is done, add the potatoes, stock, water and bouquet garni (I LOVE BOUQUET GARNIS!!!!)

You may be asking "how much water do I put in"? Well, once you put the potatoes in, add the chicken stock and if it doesn't fully cover them in the pot, add water until it does.

Bring to a boil and once it boils, bring it back down to a low simmer. Cook for about 40 minutes stirring when you please to take in the awesome aroma!

Once the potatoes are soft, remove the garni and puree 1/2 of the soup. Once pureed, add it back to the rest of the soup and add the cream and milk. Salt and pepper to taste.

You may be asking, "what would go magnificently with this soup"? Caraway Bread Grilled cheese sandwiches set this soup off just right. I buy some premium caraway bread, put a little butter on each side and place a slice or two of Jarlsberg Swiss cheese in the middle. Sautee until browned on each side. Truly amazing with this soup. Even so much that I've thought of putting caraway IN the soup. If you are so brave to try that, let me know if it's good!!!

                                                          ENJOY!!!!