Potato, Onion and Leek Soup

This is just another recipe out of Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table cookbook that my Mom's cookbook group had in January. Her friend Barb made this recipe but choose to add some brussels sprouts with the leeks and potatoes although I think you could add almost any vegetable to this soup and it would give it a different flavor. I love it just the way it is but my Mom said she would love to try it with some sautéed red peppers, spinach, or corn but she is very reluctant to use up any more of our winter store of vegetables. Barb served this as the first course of the meal, but as with the stuffed squash recipe posted previously, it is a full meal in itself.

It is a really quick meal to make and you should have most ingredients in your larder. We did have to go out and buy whole milk since we usually only have 2% milk in the house and we didn't know if that would work. We made this right before I had to go off to a viola lesson and then come back to a girl scout meeting. Things then got a little crazy when I accidentally left my viola at home and so we had to turn around and come back home to get it for my lesson. Of course, now we were running really late and had girl scouts waiting on our front stoop when we got home. We couldn't eat in front of them but still hadn't eaten dinner so we offered all the girl scouts a bowl of this soup. They all loved it so I guess it isn't true that kids don't like healthy-homemade food!

Ingredients:

2 tbl.  butter
2 onions, peeled and chopped
4 small cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 large leek, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
2 cups peeled and cubed russet potato
6 thyme sprigs (still alive in our herb garden)
2 fresh, large sage leaves (still alive in our herb garden)
4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth (homemade)
3 cups whole milk (Winder Farms)
Redmond Sea Salt and pepper to taste

1. Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven or heavy soup pot over low heat. Add the onion and garlic and stir until well coated with butter. Season with salt and pepper. Cover pot and let cook over low heat for about 10 minutes to sweat the onions. Cook until onions are soft but not colored.
2. Add the remaining ingredients, raise heat to medium and bring to a boil. Once the soup boils, reduce heat to low, cover the pot and simmer gently for another 30-40 minutes. Stir pot often, and add salt and pepper to taste. Continue to cook until the vegetables are soft and can be mashed.
3. Season again with salt and pepper if needed.
4. Once vegetables are soft, you can puree some or all of it or serve chunky. My preference is to slightly puree the soup with my immersion blender.
adapted from Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan
Options:
---our friend Barb added some brussels sprouts in step #2. Now, I am a BIG lover of brussels sprouts but other "non-lovers" still thought this soup was delicious
---Barb also added homemade croutons to each bowl. We make these all the time by taking some stale bread, cutting it into cubes, spraying with olive oil and then baking in a 350 degree oven until a golden brown.
--- I would love to try this recipe with a little added corn but I am reluctant to use up my stored, frozen kernels in a dish that is delicious already. It being February, I am starting to hoard some of my stored food to last until spring and summer come around!