Save on stress for your special occasion meals by choosing courses that can be cooked in advance, like this easy blender leek and potato soup.

Time: 3/5
Takes some time to prep, but once things are set up it’s quick to put together.

Effort: 3/5
Using a stick blender means more cleanup, but you can make up for it by making more food while you’re at it.

No Sweat

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, having the skills and confidence to cook at home is a superpower. You save money, you have control over the taste and the nutrition of your meals, and it’s hella impressive when you cook something special for someone special.

Inadvertently, I have a sort of date night series going on where I document my experiences with cooking special occasion dinners. One of the themes that keep coming up is how date night dinners should be about each other, not about the cooking. Which is why I try to come up with menus that can be made ahead of time and quickly put together to order.

Now, some things keep and reheat better than others. Generally speaking, soups and stews don’t lose quality (and might even improve) after sitting overnight in the fridge. So one simple solution to saving time on a multi-course dinner is to make a soup ahead of time.

That’s why I’m here with the first of a two-part series for a home cooked Christmas dinner that can be mostly cooked one day ahead – a leek and potato soup that I stole from Kenji, and stick in the microwave while I sear the steaks.

And since I’m using the immersion blender for this soup as well as the Parmesan and pumpkin purée I’m serving the steaks on, I do less dishes than if I made the two courses separately. Home cooking synergy at its finest!

Posts since the last recipe that was actually served with rice: 1

Dramatis Personae

Served two.

• 1 small potato

I usually scrub potatoes well and serve them with the peels on, since it’s a great source of fiber and nutrition. But I can’t really think of a way that potato skin will contribute positively to the liquid portion of the soup, so I peeled the potato this time.

Although it would be interesting to save the skins and crisp them up to be a topping/garnish for the soup. Now that’s an experiment worth trying …

• 1 Japanese leek (Negi)

Just because it’s what I have access to. I’m sure non-Japanese leeks will work just fine. Whatever language your leek speaks, make sure to wash it thoroughly because they tend to trap a lot of dirt between their layers.

• 1 tbsp butter

I mostly cook Asian, so I work with butter very infrequently. It’s been so long since I cooked with butter, this stick has been in the fridge since maybe last year. But thankfully it’s still good, and I’m still alive to write up the recipe after eating year-old butter.

• 500ml stock

Whatever kind. I have some seafood stock on sale so that’s what I have. If your stock isn’t low sodium, I would start with only a little bit of it and maybe top it off with plain water. You can always add salt, but you can’t take it away.

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp herbs for garnish
• Salt and pepper to taste

Don’t overestimate how far a bit of effort goes to making a home cooked meal feel fancy! Pretty food tastes better, so I decorated my soup with a sprinkle of herbs and a swirl of extra virgin olive oil.

It’s not just for looks – the aroma and the taste also get an upgrade, especially from the olive oil. Fresh herbs are better, but when I buy a bunch from the store I can never use them all before they wilt, so I settled for some dried coriander leaves which looked good enough.

Executive summary

1. Wash, peel and cut potatoes into small cubes. Wash and cut leeks into sections.
2. Sweat leeks in butter until aromatic, but not browned. 
3. Add potatoes and just enough stock to cover. Cover the pot and simmer until potatoes are tender.
4. Reserve some potatoes for garnish. Working in batches if necessary, blend the potatoes and leeks.
5. Add stock or water as needed to adjust texture to your liking, and season to taste.
6. Refrigerate the soup overnight. Before serving, garnish with reserved potatoes and reheat.

Play by Play

Beginning with some knife work. I chose the smallest potato I can find, and even then the soup was a bit thicker than I would like. So maybe I would use more water, or half a potato when I make this soup again.

Always wash your veggies! I was surprised how dirt-free my leek was, but that doesn’t mean I can skip this step. You never know, and better safe than sorry.

Sweat the leeks gently, I’m not looking for colour. Then add the potatoes, a bit of stock, and cover to let everything simmer/steam. The less liquid there is now, the less there is to blend. I’m still haunted by the nightmare that was blending pumpkin soup in batches.

Here I am about 10 minutes later. The potatoes are tender, and I’m ready to blend. I’ll reserve a couple cubes to be the garnish later – it’s an almost zero-effort way to improve the appearance of the dish, a super low hanging fruit to take.

The soup is blended, and I tasted and adjusted for seasoning. This cute little soup bowl is about to set off on its first voyage.

Since I have the blender out, I’m also going to blend the roast pumpkin I had going on in the background. Might as well make the most of the dishes I have to do anyway.

Game time. All I have to do is microwave the soup and the purée, make the salad, sear the steak and plate up.

Looks pretty good, if I say so myself.

Bottoms up!

Keep browsing by categories, or by tags: