I had hoped to post this Sunday, y’know Soup Sundays and the first snow mix we had making it perfect soup weather.
Sunday I woke up at 1…pm and felt like I still had not slept. Last week was a struggle, I’ve felt physically sick and my depression has kicked my butt big time. However I had soup to look forward to, right?
Well I was still not feeling great and we had decided to make one of my husband’s go to soups. A take on Alton Brown’s Leek Potato. A party hit every year at our annual soup supper.
I had been in charge of getting the ingredients gathered and then reading the recipe off to him so I could still rest but be involved. A supposed to be relaxing happy end to a trying week.
You know the saying measure twice cut once?
You should also read a recipe twice or three or four times and cook once!
Mike asked me, “Are you sure this is the correct amount of potatoes?”
Yes, yes. I only ordered what we needed!
“It seems like a lot but okay…”
Turns out the recipe said;
5 small gold potatoes.
My not quite there brain when ordering groceries though read;
5 POUNDS gold potatoes
…totally the same thing right?
We ended up with one tiny leek to a whole lot of potato, but that’s okay. We can make it work right? Maybe.
Soften the leek, add the boatload of potatoes and now broth.
We always use the Better Than Bouillon base to make ours (if not using homemade). It’s really simple you simply add 1 teaspoon to 1 cup.
We needed to increase the liquid amount because obviously the original amount was not going to cover the potatoes.
Decided 8 cups would do it…and add the bouillon.
Mike turns to me “You said tablespoons, right?”
…
…
…
1 leek, 5 lbs of potatoes, and 8 TABLESPOONS of concentrated salty vegetable base instead of teaspoons.
My eyes welled up and I just started crying.
“It’s okay, it’s just soup! It will be okay.” My loving husband assured me.
“I know! I know!” and logically yes I knew but it was just the end of a long week. A long year and it spilled out as tears over a messed up soup recipe.
Tears over soup, tears over being in physical pain, tears over being frustrated, tears for the world, tears over not being able to go back to work right now, tears over just being damn tired.
I sniffled and dried my eyes. We left the soup to simmer and went to enjoy some Christmas movies.
The soup came out alright, saltier than normal and we ended up adding more milk to balance it out which made it thin despite all the potatoes with a very vegetable broth flavor.
Sometimes you just salvage a recipe gone awry.
Sometimes you need to cry over soup.
It’s okay.
Now if you would like the non awry recipe, check it out below.
Potato Leek
modified from Alton Brown's Leek Potato
- 1 pound leeks (cleaned and dark parts removed, chopped into small pieces.)
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter (*dairy free notes)
- Kosher Salt
- 5 small Yukon gold potatoes (peeled and diced)
- 1 quart vegetable broth
- 1 cup heavy cream (*dairy free notes)
- 1 cup buttermilk (*dairy free notes)
- 2 tsp white pepper
- optional topping: snipped chives
- optional topping: shredded cheddar cheese
In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the chopped cleaned leeks and a heavy pinch of salt and sweat for 5 minutes.
Decrease the heat to low and cook until the leeks are tender, stirring occasionally. About 20 minutes.
Add the potatoes and broth, increase the heat and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft.
Remove from the heat and puree with an immersion blender or carefully blend in batches in blender until completely smooth.
Mix the heavy cream and buttermilk* and white pepper together, slowly incorporate into the hot soup.
Taste and adjust salt and pepper if needed. Serve with optional toppings!
*I have made this completely dairy free before when I was eliminating dairy from my diet and it was still very delicious!
I used vegan butter, coconut cream (unsweetened) and made a coconut milk buttermilk by mixing 1 TABLESPOON of lemon juice to 1 cup of coconut milk and letting it sit for 5 minutes.