Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Taking Care

While it is practically spring around here, elsewhere it is decidedly otherwise.  And truth be told, our bodies here aren't fully convinced that it is spring.  We even have another cold, just to put a fine point on it. 

This past weekend, it was 60 degrees and we decided to get the garden ready for planting time (still a few weeks away).  I harvested the rest of the leeks and onions and Brian and I shoveled and raked four inches of new compost over the whole bed. Our plot is now absolute pornography for the gardener.  The soil is lucious and black and ready to bring seeds to life.  Today it is 40 degrees, raining, and we all have the sniffles.  Luckily, we have leeks; washed and ready.  I'm making my favorite leek/potato soup: comfort food and healer of colds.  Here's my recipe for those of you who may also be up to your noses in snow and cold.
Colleen's Leek/Potato Soup:

4-5 nice fat leeks, or twice that many smaller ones, washed and sliced in thin rounds
1 yellow Spanish type onion, chopped
4 self-respecting potatoes.  I like the yellow, thin skinned kind, scrubbed and cubed. (If you only have bakers, peel them)
2 TB Olive Oil
1 TB Ground (powdered) mustard
2TB Bouillon (I like the brand, "Better Than Bouillon") either vegetable or chicken
Salt, to taste
Ground Pepper, to taste
8 Cups of water

In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil and add the leeks and onions.  Sautee until the onions begin to get soft and then add the potatoes and the ground mustard.
Sautee a little more (5 minutes) and add the remaining ingredients.
Simmer until the potatoes are tender, adjusting seasonings to taste.

If you like a smooth soup, you can blend it, but I personally like mine more chunky.

Serve with a lovely french bread, and feel better!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Self respecting potatoes" ... I LOVE that! What a great recipe. I want some NOW!

And no one, NO ONE takes better pictures of veggies than you do.

Gardners' porn, indeed!

Stephanie said...

Yum! I have an infected wisdom tooth so have been on a liquid diet all week! I wish I would have read this before dinner; I would have made it! Thanks for sharing.

Colleen MacDonald said...

Oh, I AM sorry to hear about your tooth; OUCH. I hope you feel better soon!

Colleen MacDonald said...

JR, thank-You. I wish I could take credit for the leek photo; sadly, I cheated and pulled it from the web. Usually I DO take my own photos, though!

Unknown said...

Hi Everyone - Colleen's garden IS incredible! Even with our colds (what are neighbors if they don't share?) we can smell the heavenly scent of fresh compost and rich earth. Then, as she said, in a few weeks we move on to the ritual of watching lovely Colleen plant her magic seeds. THEN I know spring has most certainly arrived! Thank you Colleen for these wonderful memories!!

vadjutka said...

yumm! please save me a portion of that soup for dinner! :-)

You lucky girl that it is some kind of spring there - we still have snow...and it is going to be snowing more....

Colleen MacDonald said...

Susan, thank-you for your lovely supporting words! Sorry to hear you guys are sick, too!

Judit, I'm sending warm vibrations your way. And I'll be right over with some hot soup!

Cosmic Blue Monkey said...

Ok, I don't have leeks or potatoes, so I'm going to have to resort to storebought. But I'm making this tonight!

Colleen MacDonald said...

Make sure you have ground mustard; besides the leeks, it's the most important ingredient!

Victoria said...

This soup sounds so wonderful and soul satisfying and I could use some... Winter is still gripping us hard where I am... we just got 2 more feet of snow on top of last weeks foot. I am holding on to the whisper of spring.

Corrabelle said...

this sounds so delicious! I tried an onion soup today that was really good, but I made WAY too much of it so we'll be eating it for a while.
Once that's gone though, i'm going to give this a try. (haha, that is if my family isn't way too souped out!)