Alton Brown's Potato Leek Soup

Although I've been miffed, for years, over Alton Brown not giving any mention to ramps (aka wild leeks) in the Good Eats episode "Sprung a Leek," I can now say that, just maybe, the soup recipe from the show makes up for his oversight.

Upon first learning of an episode on leeks, I surmised AB would cover ramps. I mean, come on, native North America wild leek... no brainer. Here in my home state, West Virginia, the ramp has a cult-status. We are known far and wide for ramp festivals and whatnot. They are a spring rite... albeit a smelly rite. It is truly a part of Appalachian foodways. And Alton says his family hails from the mountains of North Georgia, but he didn't pay props to the ramp. Tsk, tsk Mr. Brown ;)

Anyway, back to this week's new recipe, the episode on leeks intrigued me two ways. Those delightful looking leek rings and the potato leek soup.

A few days ago, I spied some mighty fine looking leeks at the mega-mart and decided it was time to try this recipe. I ran into one problem in gathering the supplies, the mega-mart with the leeks didn't have veggie stock. Shocking, I know, but true. This is when I opted for chicken stock.

I picked up the rest of the ingredients, heavy cream, chives, buttermilk and headed to make the soup. Something happened on the way the kitchen Saturday and I opted for a quicker dinner. So my soup stayed in a holding pattern.

Then Tuesday morning brought some wicked weather my way. I found my myself stuck at home with a "snow day" from work. It was the right time to make the soup.

I started by cleaning the one pound of leeks. Didn't do a very good job, my cutting board was filthy and I had to rewash the chopped leek pieces. The 14 ounces of Yukon Gold potatoes met their fate on my now cleaned board.

Next, a 5 minute sweat of the leeks in 3 tablespoons of butter and a heavy pinch of kosher salt. After the sweat, I continued to cook the leeks for 25 minutes until they were tender. Once that happened, I added the potatoes and one quart of chicken stock (remember the original recipe calls for veggie broth) and cooked 45 minutes.

When the potatoes were fork-tender, I buzzed mixture with my stick blender until smooth and added one cup each buttermilk and heavy cream.

Top with white pepper and chives. The soup can be served hot or cold.

This soup is wonderful. It has both a light onion taste and a light potato flavor. It is smooth and creamy. Just plain yummy! I am not sure what change the chicken stock brought, but I will be making this soup with chicken stock from now on.

Another excellent recipe from AB!
Potato Leek Soup