Alton Brown's Leek and Potato Soup
I love Alton Brown. That guy is just a boatload of fun to watch. The fact that I get educated about food while being entertained is a big bonus. Go find some episodes of Good Eats if you’ve never watched him. The man also makes some incredibly tasty dishes.
This is one I make mostly according to the recipe. Since I usually have a surplus of chicken stock lurking in my deep freeze, I usually substitute that for the vegetable stock. No one in my family is a vegetarian, so I can get away with it. Alternately, you could make your own vegetable broth in a slow cooker the exact same way you’d make chicken stock. I also try to use the tender part of the green leek tops since it gives the soup a groovy color. Other than that, just go with Mr. Brown.
While it’s not one of the faster recipes, almost all of your time is spent hanging around and waiting for veggies to cook. Its a great thing to fix when you’ve got other things to do in or around your kitchen. Do the dishes. Clean the counters. Bake some easy desert. Its all good. Leeks will forgive you if you don’t spend all your time with them.
You don’t have to use an immersion blender. A plan ol’ blender will work just fine. You might have to stop part way through and stir things around, but for the most part there’s enough liquid to easy the process along.
Definitely go with the buttermilk in this recipe. It may sound weird, but the slight tang is so ridiculously delicious. You could use that aforementioned spare time to bake some buttermilk biscuits if you’re feeling adventurous.
This is an awesome dish to get vegetables into fussy eaters too. The green color is exotic enough for the younger crowd to want to taste it, and its not vegetable-y in flavor. Try this with some goldfish or cheez-it crackers. Seriously tasty. This gets even better the next day, in my opinion, but it has a tendency to disappear pretty fast.
