Leek and Potato Soup

I have been trying to grow leeks for three years now since I love them but they get a little expensive in the stores. Well, this year I finally have some!


Not the huge ones you see in the store, but they will work just fine for my leek and potato soup. I evolved this recipe from the one in Renny Darling's Vegetarian Fast and Fancy (one of my favorite cookbooks.

• 4 small leeks
• 1 small sweet onion
• 4 medium potatoes (I recommend one of the golds)
• 6 cups broth (vegetable or chicken)
• 4 TBS chopped chives
• Olive oil
• White pepper
• sea salt

Slice the leeks and chop the onions. Saute in a little olive oil.

I use chicken bouillon for the broth and like to add it with the oil as the oil helps break it down faster.

Once everything is sauteed, add all the broth (add 6 cups water at this point if using bouillion), white pepper and salt. Simmer while preparing the potatoes.


Cube the potatoes into 1/2 - 1 in cubes and fry over medium heat.

Once the potatoes are well seared, add them to the soup.

Simmer for about ten minutes.


Add the chopped chives right before serving. Delicious!

This soup always goes fast in my house, and this batch was the best ever!

Maybe it was the home grown leeks...

Potatoes and Parsnips in Four Cheese Herb Sauce

OH.MY.GOSH!!

I made the most delicious sauce today!
Seriously, I almost cried.

• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 medium potatoes, sliced
• 2 parsnips, chopped
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 3 TBS butter
• 1/8-1/4 cup flour
• 1 pint half-n-half
• 2 TBS thyme
• 2 TBS Italian four cheese mix
• salt & pepper

Saute the onion in olive oil over medium heat. When the onion is about half cooked, add garlic. Add butter, be careful to monitor heat so that the butter melts but doesn't burn. Once it is melted, mix in enough flour to make a paste. Mix in half and half, thyme, four cheese mix and sea salt and pepper.

O.M.G!! It was YUMMMMMY!!! I wanted to eat it right then.

Place potatoes and parsnips in a baking dish. Pour the sauce over the potatoes and parsnips mixed it in, and bake the whole thing at 350F for an hour.

It was delicious!! I will definitely make this again. My son and husband weren't so sure about the parsnips (although they each had two huge servings), so I may omit them in the future. I think they just weren't expecting them.

In any case, I definitely have big plans for that sauce!

Apple and Herb Chicken

I created this recipe for my clay pot cooker, but you can use it for how you normally roast a chicken.

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 medium sweet onion
• a few potatoes
• a few stalks of celery
• 2 cups baby carrots
• 1 TBS ground rosemary
• 2 TBS thyme
• 1 packet apple cider mix
• sea salt

While the clay pot was soaking in water (you need to soak it in water for 10-15 minutes before putting the ingredients so it will keep your food moist while it cooks) chop up the sweet onion, potatoes, and celery. Grind the rosemary and thyme in a mortar. Once the pot has soaked up enough water, dump the apple cider drink mix in the bottom, pile in a cut whole chicken, sprinkle it with sea salt and the ground spice, then dump in the chopped veggies with the baby carrots. On goes the lid and into a cold oven. Turned on the oven for 450 degrees (100 degrees hotter than you would usually cook the food). Bake for about an hour.

When I made this I ran some errands and came home a little late. Doesn't it look delicious even if it is a little, er, toasty?

IT WAS! The apple cider mix was a great inspired touch, too! And even though it cooked long, it was still moist.