A Soupçon–Soup’s On

Carmelized Leek Soup with Cheese Crouton

Leeks and Potatoes. Is that really soup? Is there really flavor, and is it really anything to write up for a blogpost? Turns out the answer’s a “yes.”

Gourmet magazine–may she rest in peace–had some truly cool recipes that are quickly disappearing. Thankfully, epicurious.com is there to salvage the best of the best. I cannot begin to tell you how cool this soup is.

Sure, you could cook this with homemade broth; bone-in beef stock would be a terrific start. You could use a fancy veal stock. But I just told my pal Scott to go to Safeway before he got to my house and grab my mother’s recommended stock: Swanson’s Chicken Stock. No, really, I did!

Honestly, you can add this liquid to just about any slow-fried/carmelized vegetables and end up with something extraordinary. I have no idea what makes this boxed broth taste so good (Maybe it’s the box?) but I’m thrilled it’s not the MSG most of us grew up with and like so many bouillon cubes and other stocks rely upon.

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At any rate, this recipe is a dream because the result is so unexpected. I blindly walked into this soup recipe thinking: I have too many damned leeks in the ‘fridge, and I have to leave for the holidays. How do I use them and make something wonderful?

Ironically, I pulled out the remainder of the foie gras from Alishia’s visit after her trip from France, and invited Scott (who lived in France and knew where the foie gras had come from) over for dinner. He really was the ideal guest to consume the remainder of a week’s old goose live.

Now how on earth could that be relevant to this lunchtime soup? Well, this recipe is a modified French onion soup. It has so much French Onion panache, but without all the guilt of the high fat content. It’s a light soup with a rich flair.

Slow Carmelization of Leeks Drive the Flavor

I strongly recommend making a cheesey Gruyere toast point or two before serving with each bowl to make it sing of French onion soup.

The making of the soup is so simple and the flavor, outstanding that I felt compelled to share here. While I’ve modified the original, it’s still flawles You can do this by pureeing the soup or not. However, I like this chunky. But I can see just zapping in the Cuisinart.

Caramelized Leek Soup

1 lb leeks

3 T peanut oil

2 c Swanson’s Chicken Broth

1 medium/small potato

1 1/4 t Sugar-in-the-Raw/Demerara sugar

(FYI: Just get yourself to Starbucks, buy a coffee, and pocket one pack of this sugar at the coffee condiments station. It’s a great resource for cooking well; you didn’t hear it from me.)

1/8 c dry Sherry

Slowly fry the leeks sliced in a way that you think would be attractive if you were to eat them whole. Taking the knife, I sliced them once lengthwise, and then again, basically quartering the leeks. Then I cut them crosswise and threw them into a hot Le Creuset pot with the oil. Gourmet recommended 3 T of butter. That’s your choice. I find the oil is just lovely, and provides a certain richness I desire.

Take the potato and with a vegetable slicer slice off sliver after sliver of lovely long potato shards of potato. When they cook up they will be very similar to fat pasta ribbons or even Pennsylvania Dutch Egg Noodles in appearance.

Potato Slices as Pennsylvania Dutch Noodles

The effect is to create a strange, striking potato chip that doesn’t dissolve, but becomes a part of the final soup.

Simmer/sauté for 45 minutes. At the conclusion, you sprinkle in the sugar and deglaze with the Sherry. Cook until the liquid is boiling off.

At this point you can cover the pot as I did until guests arrive, whereupon you add in the stock and heat through.

Or you can just add in directly and serve within the next 5-15 minutes. The caramelized leeks are so striking, the flavor is ready the night you make it. I found that surprising, given that most soups taste much better the next day.

Reheating is a cinch. Either reboil on the stove or microwave at work, toasting a lovely crust with Gruyere.

Enjoy with a sandwich from your favorite sub shop, like mine–TAYLOR GOURMET and make an exquisite but flavorful lunch. Then sit down at your desk and shovel, you have work to do

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