While I'm not exactly rockin' the student lifestyle like Tara is, I am rockin' the recession. Well, not so much rockin' it as resenting it, really... my job security is low, my income is lower, and all this talk of consumer confidence indexes makes me want to crawl under my doona and sleep the doom and gloom of the 'GFC' away. Sadly my job requires me to get out of bed each day, so I've turned my recession fear from a cowering desire never to look at the news again into a new found frugality, lest I suddenly find myself in need of that thing, what's it called? Oh. Savings.
Today's soup costs next to nothing to make, it's damn well recession proof and a worthy contribution to Soup Week 2009.
Cheap and Easy Potato and Leek Soup
What You Will Need:
- 5 leeks (or is it just leek?)
- 2 large potatoes
- Lots of garlic
- A big sprig of fresh rosemary
- Salt reduced vegetable stock (about a litre and a half, I think)
- Salt, pepper and parmesan cheese to taste. Maybe some croutons too, if you're feeling fancy.
What You Will Need To Do:
1. Thinly slice the leek and dice the potato.
2. Heat a generous lump of butter in the bottom of a deep saucepan, then add the leek, potato, rosemary sprig and a couple of big garlic cloves, stir so the veggies are coated in butter and cook on a low heat until the leek is sweating.
3. Once the leek is limp and sweaty (I know you're all licking your lips at that delicious description) and is tender rather than tough, add the vegetable stock and bring the whole lot to the boil.
4. Simmer for at least fifteen minutes, then remove half of the soup mixture - leaving the rosemary sprig in the pot -and blend until smooth. Pour the blended soup back in with the chunky stuff and stir the lot to combine.
5. Serve hot hot hot with parmesan cheese on top, and some buttery toast on the side. You can blend the soup up completely if you prefer your soup smooth rather than chunky, but I quite like some of the potato and leek to stay chunky, for a bit of dimension.
I wouldn't recommend this recipe to anybody who doesn't enjoy the taste of leek, for fairly obvious reasons. Leeky in taste, leeky in smell. This is an altogether leeky sort of a meal. The soup is really creamy and delicious, and if you lose the cheese and use olive oil in place of butter the recipe is also vegan. It's really cheap to make, the last time I cooked it the only ingredients I had to cough up for were the leek themselves, the rest I had sitting in the pantry. So if you're worried that capitalism is about to come crashing down around us and we'd better start squirelling away the pennies before we're unemployed and starving, don't reach for the migoreng just yet! It is possible to prepare a meal on the cheap without compromising on taste or nutrition.
Check back soon for more delicious soupy goodness, and while you're here please enjoy this lonely little number. The perfect accompaniment to a day spent hiding under one's doona...
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