Potato and Leek Soup

What started as a whim at the fruit stand turned into a full bore 2 1/2 hour soupmaking expedition tonight. I bought a 2 lb bag of small white potatoes, a leek, sweet yellow onion, celery, carrots and a bag of small white mushrooms from the stand, and some cheddar cheese, cream cheese and heavy cream from the store.

Fat with fat sauce, here we come!

Step 1: Peel three carrots and take three celery pieces, chop into large pieces. Take stems from ten white button mushrooms. Remove first two layers of onion underneath skin and cut into large pieces. Dice the potatoes. Drop all veggies into a large saucepan. Fill pan with water about 2 in above the vegetables. Add salt, pepper, a bay leaf, 4 cloves of garlic and bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for an hour. After it is done, drain with colander into another saucepan.

Separate the vegetables. Chop the mushrooms and 1/2 of a carrot, and set aside these and the diced potatoes.

Step 2: While stock is simmering, pour a nice healthy coating of olive oil into a saute pan and turn on medium low. Thinly slice the onion and the stem part of the leeks (I usually remove the outer 2 or 3 layers of leek as well). Sweat in the oil for about 15-20 minutes. Put the mixture into a blender with 2-3 tsp of heavy cream and milk. Blend until smooth.

Step 3: About 10 minutes before the stock is done, melt three tbsp of butter in a large saucepan. Add flour to make a roux. Stir for 5 minutes to keep from solidifying. Slowly add about 1/4 of the stock into pot and make sure that the roux blends evenly. Once mixture is partially blended, add 8 oz block of cream cheese and mix and allow to blend into pot.

Add the blended onion/leek cream mixture into the pot along with the rest of the stock. Make sure to add slowly and incorporate. Cook on very low temperature for another 20 minutes.

Serve into bowl with shredded sharp cheddar cheese.


Don't forget to arrange a workout for the next day!

Chinese Chicken Soup

One of the things that I have spent quite a bit of time on over the last few months is making stocks at home. Between making shrimp stock a few times for gumbo and other seafood dishes, i've made chicken stock from a raw whole chicken fryer. However, i've discovered that making chicken stock/soup from a store-bought rotisserie chicken is one of the quickest, cheapest and easiest ways to make a really tasty and comforting meal.

You really only need a few ingredients in addition to the chicken - some leafy greens and noodles - and you're set!

Step 1 is to de-skin and debone the entire chicken. It takes much less time that taking apart a raw fryer, for sure. I fill up a large saucepot with about 10 cups of cold filtered water and drop in the skin and bones as I prep the chicken, making sure to cut the chest cavity into at least 5 or 6 pieces. I typically add 2 dried red peppers, some sesame oil and soy sauce, bring to a boil and let simmer for at least 1 1/2 hours, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

After its done, I add about 1/3 to 1/2 of the chicken pieces, cut and shredded into small pieces. This last time I diced up some fried tofu, which was a tasty extra touch.


In a separate pot, I boiled salted water and added chinese noodles, spinach, chinese lettuce and mung bean sprouts then combined with the broth and chicken in the serving bowls. This was a tasty meal on a cold night, with enough leftovers for another serving for 2 (in addition to the remainder of the 1/2 of the chicken, which we used for chicken biscuits) and cost less than $15.