So it's winter time here in Sydney and the making of my potato, bacon and leek soup is long overdue. This soup is nice and thick and the bacon makes it a meal instead of a snack. (I used a little more bacon than usual which you can see in the picture...mmm bacon!)
In all fairness I should warn you that since I started making this version, I've often found myself disappointed with the potato and leek soup at cafés as they are usually weak in flavour, too watery or they have a funny green tinge due to the leek being blended up with the potato instead of nice chunks of soft buttery leek ribboned throughout.
I guess I've been ruined for all potato and leek soup from cafés nowadays and my sincerest apologies to you if you find yourself ruined likewise after making this one too. (hee hee!)
Hearty Potato Bacon and Leek Soup
Approx 6-8 hearty servings
1 large leek, washed and trimmed
5-6 rashers of bacon (or more or less to taste)
6-8 large potatoes (depends on size of saucepan)
2 cups of vegetable or chicken stock (or 1 stock cube)
Trim the rind off the bacon and set aside as it will be used later. Dice the bacon and leek and sauté in a large saucepan until the leek is glossy and just softened. Scrape this mixture into a bowl and put aside. You should not need to add any oil as the bacon fat will be plenty to stop any sticking to the pan.
Bring to the boil and then turn heat down to low-med to allow the potatoes to cook to the stage where they 'mash' if pushed against the side of the saucepan with a spoon.
Remove the rinds and allow to cool slightly before blending the mixture with a handblender until smooth and then pour into the bowl of bacon and leek.
Serve with a season of pepper and your favourite toasted bread!
Note: The above quantities are all approximate as I find that it depends on the size of your saucepan or pot. I tend to make big quantities of soup that I can freeze for lunches or quick dinners. You may find that you prefer to thin your soup down a bit more than I do. That's fine, all you need is a little hot water to get it to the consistency that you prefer.
Freezing Tip for Soups
As I only have a small freezer I like to be able to stack things as flat as possible so I use the ziplock sandwich-sized bags to freeze my soup in. You just need to make sure the soup is cool enough before pouring into the bags. Once they are filled with a mugful of soup, simply zip the bags and lay them flat on the bench, push any pockets of air towards the zip and re-ziplock the bag. If I have the shelf space I will stack them one or two high and then once frozen restack them to the side of the freezer. When re-heating, I usually microwave the whole bag for 20-30secs which is enough to thaw the soup (without melting the plastic) to be able to pour into a mug to complete reheating of the soup.
