I think the origins of this were from Molly Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest cookbook about 25 years ago! If you are the sort of cook that needs an exact recipe, I'd suggest that one. If you wing it like I do on stuff like this, here ya go:
Three or four good sized leeks--white parts and just the tender green parts sliced fairly thin.
One Medium onion diced up
Saute those two ingredients off in some butter or olive oil in the bottom of your soup pot. I like to use butter for the flavor, but olive oil works too. Don't brown them--just soften them up.
Cube up (so they'll cook quicker) Three or four fist sized potatoes (Peeled or not as you choose. Scrubbed if you don't peel!) Add those to your soup pot.
If you want to you can add a couple of diced carrots--as you choose. Celery is good in this too if you like the flavor. You can dice up a couple of stalks of that if you want to throw those in too.
Cover with broth or even plain water. I've used both, and I like the flavor added by chicken broth--but it is easy enough to go straight veggie if you choose to... Add salt, pepper, and any other spices that make sense to you that day.
Cover and simmer until it is all cooked soft. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil dry--you want a bit of broth left when it is cooked so it will be easier to blend. Add water if you need to. When you judge that it is all cooked enough, dump it in a blender or a food processor or get out your hand blender and puree the whole thing down till it is smooth. Leave the puree in your soup pot (or put it back in if you used a blender/food processor) Add cream/milk/half and half or even plain soy/almond milk to the puree and warm back up to serving temp. Adjust spice if you feel a need to--check for salt at this point...
I love to throw in stuff like parsley or chives or any other green herb that isn't terribly strong--you don't want to overpower anything with those herbs--you just need to add some basic interest with them... I've been known to grate some cheese over the top for a change in flavor--it really is all in how you want it to taste!
Sorry--probably not the most inspiring recipe you'll see but this is a very basic soup and it is very forgiving. As long as your flavors are good and you are careful not to over add milk/or any other dairy product you are not gonna screw this up.
Happy eating!
Laura
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