Friday, June 11, 2010

Potato Leek Soup

I’m a big Alton Brown fan and I was pretty excited to see that he had a cookbook that recreated the recipes from some of his Good Eats shows. Almost as good as the recipes are some of the snippets from the show.

But of course, it’s a cookbook. While these recipes are probably all available on the Food Network website, the great thing is the additional commentary that the book provides. Besides comments about the production, there’s a bit more detail about the recipes themselves.

It’s pretty rare for me to make soup from a recipe, but this had ingredients that I’d never thought of adding to a potato-leek soup, so I decided to follow it from start to finish. The only thing I changed along the way was that I pureed the soup at the end for a smoother finish.

Brown suggested using leftover baked potatoes for the recipe, but I baked them specifically for this recipe and used them warm rather than cooling them.

This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Potato Soup
Adapted from Good Eats, The Early Years by Alton Brown

4 baked potatoes (about 10 ounces each), peeled and riced or mashed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups finely chopped leeks
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 quart hot chicken stock
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream
6 ounces grated Parmesan cheese
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1/4 cup minced chives

In a large saucepan, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks and garlic and cook until soft. Add chicken stock.

Whisk the riced potatoes, buttermilk, sour cream and cheese together and add to the soup, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove from the heat and add vinegar. Ladle into bowls and garnish with chives.
Yum