The leeks were looking good at the Dupont Circle farmers market last Sunday.  I bought 4 and they were sitting in my fridge until last night.  It's gotten cold this week—winter has arrived—so I decided to turn my leeks into soup.

At the market on Sunday, the sign beneath the leeks read that they were tasty from tip to tail.  (I'm not sure which is which.)  But every leek recipe I reviewed instructed to throw away the dark green part . . . using only the white/light green part.  What to believe, the farmer's sign or the recipes?  I tasted the green tips raw and they were very sweet, a faint oniony taste . . . tender, not fibrous.  So I went with the farmer's wisdom and decided to use the whole leek, tip to tail.  And, after having reviewed about 10 leek soup recipes, I decided to make up my own.  It's a pretty simple concoction that serves 6-8.



Here's what I used: 

• 1 stick butter
• 4 leeks, cleaned thoroughly
• 3 large potatoes (about 2-2.5 lbs.) (I used Yukon Gold), cut into 1 inch pieces
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper
• some heavy cream drizzled on top

Leeks collect dirt between their layers . . . so cut off the greens (if using) and wash them by hand, then cut the greens into 1 inch pieces.  Cut the white/light green bulb section in half lengthwise and into 1 inch pieces as well, looking out for dirt/sand trapped between layers and removing it if you find it.

Melt the butter in a dutch oven or other large pot over medium heat, add the leeks and cook for about 15 minutes over medium-high heat, until soft.  Next, add the potatoes, chicken stock and bay leaf and cook until potatoes are soft . . . 15 minutes or so.  At this stage, I pulled out my immersion blender and pureed the soup right in the dutch oven.  If you don't have an immersion blender, you can puree it in a blender.  After my immersion blender did its magic, I salted and peppered the soup to taste and served it as pictured above, with a swirl of heavy cream on top (creme fraiche would work better, but I had some heavy cream on hand, so I used it).  This is the first time I've made a leek soup.  It was incredibly easy and delicious—I'll be keeping this one in my repertoire.