Leek and Potato Soup
Source: From Julia Child's Kitchen
3 T butter in a 3- to 4-quart heavy bottomed saucepan
3 cups sliced or minced leeks (white part only), or onions or combination of both
3 T flour
2 quarts hot water (or 4 to 6 cups water plus milk added at end of cooking)
1 T salt; pepper to taste
Opt: A cup or so of tender green part of the leeks, sliced or minced
4 cups (about 1 1/2 pounds) potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped or neatly diced - in this latter case use "boiling" potatoes that keep their shape
1/3 to 1/2 cup heavy cream or sour cream, and/or 2 to 3 T butter
2 to 3 T minced fresh parsley and/or chives
The soup base. Melt butter over moderate heat, stir in the leeks and/or onions, cover pan, and cook slowly for 5 minutes without browning. Then blend in the flour, and stir over moderate heat for 2 minutes to cook the flour without browning it either. Remove from the heat, let cool a moment, and beat in a cup or so of hot water. Blend thoroughly with the flour and vegetables, then stir in the rest of the water. (If you want to use milk, add it at the end of cooking - it will curdle if you add it now) Stir in the salt and pepper, optional green of leek, and the potatoes. Bring to a boil, and simmer partially covered for about 40 minutes, until vegetables are thoroughly tender.
For a peasant-type soup, mash the vegetables in the pan with a mixing fork or potato masher. For a smoother texture, put through the medium blade of a food mill.
* Soup base may be completed hours or even a day ahead to this point: when cool, cover and refrigerate; reheat to simmering before proceeding.
Final enrichments. To serve the soup as it is, stir in milk if you are using it, bring to the simmer, and blend in as much of the cream as you wish. Taste carefully, adding more salt and pepper, as needed. Off heat, and by tablespoons if you wish, stir in the butter. Decorate each serving with a spoonful more cream, again if you wish to, and a sprinkling of herbs.
Variation:
Soup du jour (Potato soup with leeks or onions and leftover vegetables).
Simmer the preceding soup base until the potatoes, onions and leeks are tender, then add one or all of such cooked vegetables as a cup of squash, a handful of chopped Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, or beans, mashed green peas, lettuce leaves form last night's salad, washed and shredded. Simmer 2 to 3 minutes to warm them through. Complete the soup as in the master recipe, mashing the big vegetables into the soup or pureeing all of it through a vegetable mill, and enriching with milk, cream, and/or butter.