Served Hot or Cold
I was amongst the tens of thousands of maple syrup lovers who flocked the 49th Annual Elmira Maple Syrup Festival, in Elmira, Ontario, today. It’s said to be the World’s Largest One Day Maple Syrup Festival.
It is difficult to say how many people attended, but I know I spent a great part of the day, excusing myself because everybody was bumping into everybody else. We could hardly walk. Sometimes it got a bit exasperating and annoying. It’s estimated that over sixty thousand people attend this festival every year. What do sixty thousand people actually look like??
Anyway, our pancakes were literally floating in soups of maple syrup, and this was further enhanced with dollops of butter. It tasted very nice but I doubt if one can eat this way on a daily basis. As this was just a one-day event, we literally drank the maple syrup and gobbled up numerous pancakes. I probably will not eat pancakes for a fortnight or maybe for another month. Who knows, maybe tomorrow I shall wake up to whisk more pancakes!
After drowning in sugar and butter, the whole day, I have decided to be a little civilized and so I shall be sharing a recipe for Leek and Potato Soup. Leek and Potato Soup?? what a big contrast! From mouthfuls of brown, sticky, goodness, to Leek and Potato Soup?
Don’t worry I made this soup in the middle of the week and I enjoyed eating it, then. I hope you will like it too. Don’t think about the maple syrup…
Leek and Potato Soup
Preparation time: 20 minutes; Cooking Time: 35 minutes; Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- I large onion, peeled and chopped
- 500g (1Ib) potatoes, peeled and diced into cubes
- 2 bay leaves
- 500g (1Ib) leeks, trimmed, sliced down the centre, washed and sliced into rings
- 2 stalks celery, strings removed, and finely sliced
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 600ml (2⅓ cups) vegetable or (chicken stock for non-vegetarians)
- 150ml (⅔ cup) milk
- 150ml half and half cream (10% cream)
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- Leek or chives, or cheese to garnish
Instructions
- Heat a large pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the onions. diced potatoes, and bay leaves and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the sliced leeks, celery, and salt and pepper to taste, and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Add the stock and bring to the boil. Cover the pan, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked. Discard the bay leaves.
- Remove the soup from the heat and set aside one third of the potatoes. Blend the remaining soup until smooth. Add the milk and continue blending to combine.
- Return the blended soup to the pan and and stir in the cream, nutmeg and the reserved potatoes. Heat gently, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until piping hot but not boiling (otherwise cream may curdle). Adjust seasoning and serve.
Points to Note
- This soup can be served chilled in summer (vichyssoise).
- Variations to the soup: substitute ½ cup stock with white wine; add a dash of Tabasco or red chilly sauce;
- Last Updated: 12 June 2019
myfavouritepastime.com
Step By Step Photos
Please, always remember to assemble all ingredients before you start.
Wash the leek thoroughly and slice into thin rings.
Heat a large pan over medium heat and add the olive oil.
Add the onions, diced potatoes and bay leaves and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the sliced leeks and celery
and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes over medium high heat
Add the stock and bring to the boil.
Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are fully cooked.
Remove 1/3 of the potatoes and set aside. Blend the remaining soup until smooth
Add the milk and continue blending.
Return the blended soup to the pan and stir in the cream and nutmeg. Add the reserved potatoes and heat gently, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until piping hot but not boiling (otherwise cream might curdle). Adjust the seasoning.
Serve the soup, with whole wheat bread and garnish with leek.
Or serve with white bread, if you prefer. I enjoyed eating this soup, and I hope you will too.
myfavouritepastime.com Last Updated: 12 June 2019
My Favourite Pastime 
Hey, maybe we walked right past you! We had a great time at the festival and came home with 3 4L jugs of syrup for ourselves, 3 for our neighbours, and 2 for their friends! (We spent a bit of $). Anyways, back to the soup, I like the nutmeg addition! We were sad this past weekend when we went to the Kitchener Market and the leeks were all gone! Alas, at least Spring is finally here 🙂
Omg it’s so great to have someone from close by visiting my blog. I’m so excited to hear from you. Ha ha that is hilarious, you carried so much syrup but your neighbours and their friends must have loved it. Thanks for promoting my soup on your blog, I really appreciate the kind gesture. I’m also looking forward to market days in Guelph. Lots of nice things to cook. Spring is really here..the trees are budding. Thanks for leaving me a note and thanks for the follow!
This late Spring has lengthened the soup season. Your tattie and leak is very appealing.
Thanks for dropping by and for leaving me a note. I really appreciate the kind gesture!
Hey Liz,
I’ve been to Elmira it beautiful there. Great post, I can’t wait to try it.
Besides wallowing in maple syrup we had huge turkey legs for dinner…did you ever see those huge, barbecued, turkey legs? The line for buying was one Km long but it was worth the wait. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Liz, thanks for the like on my ‘Prototype’ lol
This soup looks so good, creamy, satisfying and perfect for light lunch or dinner. As the temperature is getting warmer, this soup would be wonderful to serve cold. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, I had it hot during winter and it was delicious!
I’ve heard of this soup in a book and my friend said it was good but I never thought of trying it. This time ! tried it out and it tasted wonderful thanks for bringing this soup into my attention.
I actually love leek soup, it’s really nice. I’m glad you finally got to try it, and that you also liked it. Thanks for giving me a feedback. I really appreciate.
shame on me, i’ve never even though to make a soup from leek………
sounds refreshing and savory,
great plating too!
You should try. It’s really simple to make and it tastes really nice. Thanks for stopping by and for liking the soup. I do appreciate.
Ohhhhh….*makes gurgly sounds in my throat* …. I looooovvveeeee leek & potato soup. Mmmmmmmmm
But I have never had it home made …. wow! That was an awesome blog (again, your photos are fabulous). The photo with the leeks sitting in the bowl of water had my mouth watering lol. OMG that looks soooooo good …and it wasn’t even cooked. (I am a veggie lover, what can I say lol.)
Ohh….I soooooooooo need to try this.
Thank you I love leek soup too. I have left a long note on your blog and followed it. Have a pleasant weekend!
It was nice to learn about the maple syrup festival. I would love this soup because I love leeks!
The maple syrup was great with lots of maple syrup. Glad to know you love leeks, like me!
I would like to like this — it looks wonderful — but can’t have milk or cream. They have lactose-free milk but no cream, sadly. In better news, my nephew made us buy a stick blender so we have been making fun, easy blended soups since summer! Oh well. I will like it anyway! Just because I can’t eat it is no reason…Plus, I love maple syrup!
You can omit the cream, its optional, the milk can do. Maybe one day I will mail you a gallon of Canada number one Extra light maple syrup.Okay I really must sleep now. Goodnight. and thanks for visiting my blog and liking my soup!
Ah! I love maple syrup! Do you guys have Grade B? I’m a dark amber girl. 🙂
In that case it will be number two, Amber. Enjoy your weekend.
Thanks!
i have found that coconut milk and cashew milk both make a nice “buttermilk” texture (some say soy would work for the purpose, in my opinion it’s close, but not quite). You can use any protein based (soy) or fat based (nut) milk substitutes for “creaminess” in anything, just look for the ones that are thicker in texture. The starch based (grain) milks are usually a lot thinner so they add less texture and more dilution.
Thanks so much for this information. I’m sure my friend ‘baking-not-writing’ will find it useful, I have given her a shout. Thanks for stopping by and hope to see more of you. Kind regards!
Thanks for the tip! I use potatoes and the immersion (hand) blender to give a creamy feel to soups and I don’t usually miss the dairy (much). 🙂