Sunday, January 23, 2011

Potato Leek Soup and Goats

I made potato leek soup for the first time:

The recipe calls for two pounds of potatoes. I used a combination of store-bought potatoes and the remaining few garden potatoes that I had grown last year:

I love this recipe - the only fat in it comes from the butter I used to saute' the leeks:

Part of my interest in this recipe (aside from loving potatoes) is that I had never cooked with leeks before. Yes, I know, I'm but a baby in the kitchen:

I loved the smell as it was cooking. I adore onions, but my husband can't stand them, so I rarely have the opportunity to cook with them:

After simmering the soup for about 20 minutes, I took half of the soup out and pureed it to thicken it. I didn't puree it all because I'm one of those folks who likes a bit of texture in her soup:

The soup was good. Delicious in fact and (bonus!) my husband even liked it, but the part I'm trying to get to in my story is where I took the tops I had cut from the leeks and tried to feed them to my goats.

You see, almost everything that I put in my compost bin these days, I first try to feed to the goats. I was very doubtful that they'd have anything to do with these onion-y vegetables, but I wanted to at least give it a shot:

And, if I'd had to place a bet, my bet would have been that Pete would at least try them. He totally did:

He pretty much gobbled them down:

My other bet would have been that Reggie would turn up his nose at them.
Sure enough, Reggie gave it the old team effort, but he's really a very picky guy...for a goat, anyway:

He ran the stalks through his lips a couple times but it was clear he got no real enjoyment from it. I think he was just trying to make me happy:

And that's my story for today.... about potato leek soup and goats.

Potato Leek Soup Recipe

Ingredients
3 large leeks, cut lengthwise, separate, clean. Use only the white and pale green parts, chop.
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp butter
2 cups water
2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth for vegetarian option)*
2 lbs potatoes, peeled, diced into 1/2 inch pieces
Tabasco sauce or other red chili sauce (I used 1/2 - 1 tsp Hungarian hot paprika instead)
Salt & Pepper
*If cooking gluten-free, be sure to use gluten-free broth.

Method
1 Cook leeks and garlic in butter with salt and pepper in a medium sized sauce pan. Cover pan, cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Check often. Do not brown leeks! Browning will give leeks a burnt taste.

2 Add water, broth, and potatoes. Bring to a low simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Scoop about half of the soup mixture into a blender, puree and return to pan. Add a few dashes of tabasco sauce (or Hungarian hot paprika) to taste. Add some freshly ground pepper, 1-2 teaspoons salt or more to taste.

Serves 4-6.

15 comments:

  1. Great recipe, and we have always found that goats are very fussy, and do not eat everything and anything :D

    See... see Danni everything is fine, and I have caught up on everything. Great job blogging everyday for the month...

    How about everyday for the year?

    LiBBiE in Oz

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  2. Interesting recipe. May give it a try.
    I want to try my hand at growing potatoes this year, too.
    Have a great day!

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  3. Your soup looks delicious. Reading the recipe made my mouth water. :D

    Your goat boys are cool. It's funny how well you can predict them. The look on Reggie's face as he's lipping the leek leaves says, "Mom, do I really have to?" They're cute!

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  4. It's important to continually introduce new foods to kids to help expand their palates. :)

    The soup looks amazing and I'm so glad your hubby liked it!

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  5. Reggie would get along just fine at our house. The rule in our house for my 4 year old is that you have to at least try it. You don't have to eat it, but you have to try! and most of the time, we get the same results as you did with Reggie and the leeks. But at least he tried them!!

    can't wait to try the soup!

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  6. I tried Leek and Potato Soup for the first time Thursday night and I wasn't crazy about it. I'm going to try your recipe next time.

    Thanks!

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  7. ooo that soup looks good. I am a sucker for potato soup : ) Thanks for sharing the recipe !

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  8. Thanks for posting the recipe. We love potato leek soup.

    The goats are adorable!

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  9. Like you, I LOVE a potato anyway you fix it, and never tried leeks before. I see 'em use leeks all the time on the FoodNetwork. I also LOVE soups, so certainly want to try this recipe.

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  10. Looks yummy! Was getting a bit worried with that title! At least it said Potato leek soup 'AND' goats, not 'with'!! Dats some noice Oirish butter ya have dere!! :D

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  11. We have a WHOLE mound of leeks - way too much for us to consume. So, next time you make this soup, please come and get some. Haven't made the soup yet, but have used leeks when making a beef roast. Fabulous! After browning the roast, the leeks simmered with the roast and practically 'made' the gravy. Outstanding.
    Your husband enjoyed a relative of the ominous onion?

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  12. Oh yes, the above idea of a blog entry every day for the year is a great one. I'd vote for that.

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  13. Thanks for the recipe. Similar to the one I've used, but not exactly the same. I will try yours next time.

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  14. Looks delish!! I've got plans for a veggie garden this year Danni...but have to dig it and it will be WAAAAYYY down the driveway in the only sunny place I have. It's going to be a challenge but I do have a water spicket down there. I've still got your tomato seeds. I grew some beautiful plants from your seeds last year, but they suffered here in the shady yard. Hopefully I'll be more successful. If I can just get that garden dug!!

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  15. A goat w/ leek breath. yikes! HA! I can't wait to try the soup.

    Betsey

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