The Cookbook Club - Leek and Potato Soup

Let me start this with two things:  1) Leek and potato is one of my all time favorite soups and 2) it's still 90 degrees in Florida. 

This month's Cookbook Club was for a Paula Deen recipe and the alternate was Leek and Potato soup, taken from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker.  I was pleasantly surprised to see a recipe for this soup that was moderately healthy.  I almost never make it since it tends to involve lots of cream and butter which, while delicious, is not something I try to get used to.  The recipe was pretty straight forward:

4 medium-size leeks (white part only), washed well and thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
4 medium-size to large russet potatoes, peeled and diced
4 to 6 cups of water or vegetable or chicken broth
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
French bread for serving

1.    Put leeks and potatoes in the slow cooker. Add enough water or broth to just cover them. Cover and cook on low until the potatoes are tender, 5 to 7 hours.

2.    Puree the soup with a handheld immersion blender or transfer to a food processor or blender and puree in batches. Add the salt and the butter, swirling until it is melted. Ladle the hot soup into bowls and serve immediately with French bread.

I did add a couple cloves of garlic  (because nothing is ever complete without garlic), a tablespoon more of butter, and I diced up scallions to sprinkle on top for serving. 

I cut up the potatoes and leeks the night before, so yesterday before work I just had to throw everything in the slow cooker.  I figured it was a good sign when I heard from E in the afternoon and he said he had been hungry all day because the house smelled so good.

I got home from work and began transferring the soup to the food processor in batches.  My food processor is pretty tiny (circa 1980), so it took many batches.  I processed it, put it in a large tupperware container, and then when it was all done, back in the slow cooker set to "warm" until we were ready to eat.  At this point I will 'fess up that once I did the after-work portion, I completely spaced on taking pictures.

The end result of the soup was pretty good.  I'm not inclined to soups when it's so warm out, but it went well with my week of pretending that it's fall.   It was a little bland, but I think that could be counteracted with some creative seasoning at the beginning of the day - "creative"  does not really describe me at 6 a.m.   I look forward to trying this one again!