We really don't eat potatoes too often here, so when I got a 2lb bag of them with our CSA share this past week along with some leeks, I took their suggestion of making potato leek soup. However I needed a non-dairy vegetarian version and wanted to keep it as healthy as I could. The result was a creamy flavorful soup that tastes as though it were a rich creamy higher fat laden variety, that I can still feel great about eating! The fact that it was made with fresh organic (and mostly local) ingredients made me even happier.
Healthy Herb Potato Leek Soup (Vegan)
6 servings (made about 10 cups)
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs potatoes (mine were small potatoes, possibly Yukon gold variety), chopped into 1 inch pieces, peel on
- 6 small or 3 large leeks (wash well, only use bottom part-trim off green part), sliced
- 3 small stalks celery heart with leaves, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
- 8 cups organic vegetable broth
- 1/2 TB extra virgin olive oil
- 1 TB fresh thyme, chopped
- 1/4 TB fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1 tsp sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
- Wash and chop potatoes, leeks, celery.
- In a large pot on medium, heat olive oil. Add in leeks and saute about 3-4 minutes until softened. Watch heat that they are not browning (leeks are different than onions). Add in 1 cup of vegetable broth and stir. Simmer 3 minutes.
- Add the rest of the vegetable broth to the pot, turn to high. Add in potatoes and celery, bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer 25 minutes until potatoes are tender.
- Crush and chop garlic, chop fresh herbs. Add both to a small prep bowl along with salt.
- When potatoes are ready, remove pot from heat and stir in garlic/herbs/salt mixture. In 2 batches ladle soup into your blender and blend to smooth consistency. (or you could use an immersion blender).
- Serve soup with freshly ground black pepper on top. Great to eat with a hearty crusty bread!
