Leek, Cabbage and Potato Velouté

As you may have noticed, I love to cook.  And one of the things I have been loving most about working from home now is that I have plenty of time to dream up something delicious for dinner, and (most of the time) have it bubbling away on the stove when my honey pulls into the driveway.  Now I never really thought of myself as the home-and-hearth type, particularly when I was gallivanting off to be an independent and cultured woman in Paris, but now I realize that there is nothing I'd rather be doing, honestly, nothing, than cooking a beautiful meal for the man I love.  And it will only get better when it is made using produce I coaxed and nurtured out of the soil in our own garden.

That said, however, there is also nothing like having a beautiful meal cooked for you by the man you love!  And that man also loves to cook and is a little bit jealous that I get to do it all the time now.  So yesterday evening, following a cup of tea (that man is also sometimes very English) out in the garden in the warm spring sunshine with the puppies chasing dust motes and flying insects, he told me to sit back and relax, and headed into the kitchen to end up making one of the most gorgeous soups I've tasted in a long time.

Leek, Cabbage and Potato Velouté

8-10 leeks

Several center leaves of Savoy cabbage

2-3 potatoes

Butter

Cream

Chicken stock or water + stock cube

Clean the leeks thoroughly, removing the outer layer, then chop and add to olive oil (first, then add knobs of butter as you go) in a large pan on low heat.  Sweat the leeks gently (i.e. keep the heat low and the pan lid on, only opening to stir occasionally and add the next batch of chopped ingredients), adding salt and pepper, and don't be afraid of adding too much butter, as this is really not physically possible.  Peel the potatoes and chop them into pretty small chunks so they will cook more rapidly, and add them to the pot.  Wash and chop the inner leaves of a Savoy cabbage and add them in, too.

Cook gently until the potato is starting to cook through, then either add hot chicken stock or boiling water (we have an electric kettle for all those cups of tea, which also comes in quite handy for this sort of thing) and half of a stock cube to start (you can add the rest later to adjust the taste if it needs it), enough to just cover the vegetables.  Leave to cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for about a half an hour, then whiz everything up thoroughly with a hand blender and return the pan to the heat.  Stir in cream and add more stock cube, salt or pepper as needed, then serve with some cream drizzled over the top (the restaurant trick is to pour it over the back of a large spoon to get a delicate swirl) and a final twist of black pepper, accompanied by a hunk of crusty bread.

Comments

[Mary]

I LOVE Henry's soup--I'm so glad to know how to make it.

[Laura]

I think the one you had was more potato and leek than leek and potato, so to re-create that, just don't put any cabbage and use fewer leeks and a couple of more potatoes!

[Mary]

Thanks. Not only is that soup delicious, it brings back special memories.