LEEK & SWEET POTATO SOUP

Leek and potato soup, often called potato and leek or vichyssoise (when served chilled), traces its roots to simple peasant fare in medieval Europe where hardy, cheap ingredients like potatoes and leeks were staples. Potatoes arrived in Europe from the Americas in the 16th century and gradually became central to northern European diets, while leeks have been cultivated since ancient Roman and even earlier times, prized in Wales and throughout Britain and France. The creamy, comforting combination likely evolved in rural kitchens as a way to stretch store cupboard staples into a nourishing meal, and by the 19th and early 20th centuries chefs in France refined the recipe into a smoother, butter and cream enriched soup. American chef Louis Diat of the Ritz Carlton in New York is often credited with popularising the chilled version "vichyssoise" in the 1910s, naming it after the French spa town Vichy, though the concept of hot potato and leek soup remained a humble home cooked classic across Britain, Ireland, and continental Europe.

My variation on it uses the sweet potato, giving it a wonderful deeper orange colour and is pumped up with my no waste vegetable stock. Using up all the scraps and vegetable ends that usually get tossed away, it’s one of the most nutrient dense recipes on my site and is so full of flavour, a store bought copy could never compete. It’s the perfect recipe for when the whether cools and it’s incredible thick and filling, so you don’t even need a slice of toast with it (so I went with a bunch of croutons to mix through instead).

LEEK & SWEET POTATO SOUP

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LEEK & SWEET POTATO SOUP 〰️

Time:

  • With making no waste vegetable stock - 2 hours 45 minutes

  • With store bought vegetable stock - 45 minutes

Serves: 4-5

No Waste Vegetable Stock

2 carrots (washed)

1 brown onion

1 red onion

5 garlic cloves

7 celery stalks (washed)

3 small leek (top end greens, washed)

1 bunch parsley stems

1 lemon (peel)

2 tbl sp black peppercorns

Oil and salt

Start by chopping the carrots into chunky pieces, as well as cutting the red and brown onion into eights with the skin on. Just make sure the skin is clean and if not, peel off the top layer or give it a wash.

Place large pot on medium high heat with a glug of oil. Once high heat is reached add in carrot and onions and char and brown for a few minutes until you get some lovely caramelisation.

Whilst browning alliums, chop up celery, leek green ends into pieces. Once browned add in garlic cloves, celery, leek, parsley stems, leek peel and black peppercorns with enough cold water to cover everything comfortably.

Bring to a high simmer and then allow to simmer gently for 90 minutes - 2 hours, salting as you go, making sure you add enough salt to taste. Once cooked remove from heat and strain a few times until clear of any ingredients.

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Leek & Sweet Potato Soup

*I have used the the same leek, lemon and parsley from the no waste vegetable stock above

1 brown onion (diced)

3 small leek (washed and thinly sliced)

3 garlic cloves (rough diced)

1 tbl sp gr cumin

1 tbl sp paprika

1 tbl sp sumac

1/2 tbl sp chilli flakes

5 sweet potato (peeled and cubed)

2 ltr vegetable stock (I used the above no waste vegetable stock)

1/2 lemon (juice)

Olive oil and salt

Garnish: Croutons, Greek yoghurt (mixed with a squeeze of lemon juice and salt) and chopped parsley leaves.

Place large pot on medium high heat with a glug of oil. Add in onion and leek and sweat down for five minutes with a pinch of salt. Add in garlic and spices with a bit of oil and cook through for a minute to activate spices. Add in the sweet potato and mix through. Pour over all the vegetable stock and enough water to cover everything by a thumb. At this point I also added in the pieces of carrot from the no waste veg stock so they didn’t go to waste.

Season with salt and allow to simmer away for 20-30 minutes, or until a fork can pierce the sweet potato with ease. Take off heat, add lemon juice and blitz until smooth, adding dashes of extra stock or water until its smooth and not too thick. Season with salt to taste before serving with greek yogurt, croutons and parsley.