Wonderful Cream of Leek Soup with Bacon

After a short break, I'm back with another tasty recipe. Today I'm adding a recipe to the Time for Leeks (Pora na pora) event.

I had cream of leek soup for the first time at my own wedding. When the lady presenting the wedding menu to me heard my question about an alternative to the ever-present (but no less delicious) rosół (classic Polish chicken broth), she suggested exactly this soup. I've been a fan of cream of leek ever since. Not so modestly, though, I'll say that this version is much better than the one at the wedding. I suspect the fresh broth (not from a jar), the vegetables sautéed in butter and the aromatic smoked bacon all have something to do with it.

wonderful cream of leek soup with bacon

This soup is thick, as a cream soup should be, aromatic, filling, easy to make and almost minimalist when it comes to ingredients. The downsides? The butter, cream and bacon take care of the calories, but also of the flavor. If you're watching your figure, replace the bacon with ham. The original recipe also called for cream, but I skipped it in favor of a much smaller amount of crème légère, because I didn't want to give up the bacon, and you do have to look after your hips a little. I served this soup with homemade croutons.

I was inspired by a recipe from the book „Sekrety kuchni znakomitej” by G. Ostrowski, www.mniammniam.pl

wonderful cream of leek soup with bacon

Ingredients:

(serves about 4)

• 3 large leeks
• 3 medium potatoes
• 1 onion
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp oil
• about 1.2 l broth
• 200 g smoked bacon or diced bacon
• 1 tbsp crème légère or 18% cream
• salt
• pepper
• a pinch of nutmeg
• a small handful of chopped parsley

For the croutons:

• half a slice of toast bread per person
• olive oil
• herbes de Provence
• 1 garlic clove (optional)

wonderful cream of leek soup with bacon

Remove the outer leaves from the leeks, cut off the old, ugly green ends, wash them and cut into thin slices. Peel and chop the onion. Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes. They don't have to be perfectly even and pretty.

Dice the bacon and fry it in the oil until browned and crispy. Then pour off the fat.

Heat the butter in a pot, add the leeks and onion and cook, stirring, until translucent. Add the potatoes and cook for a little while longer. Pour in the broth, bring to a boil and simmer over low heat until the potatoes are soft. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Blend the whole seasoned soup, add the crème légère, stir and bring to a boil. I add the crème légère while blending. The soup should have the consistency of a cream soup. If needed, you can add water or cream.

To make the croutons, cut the bread into cubes of about 1 cm. Then heat the olive oil, add the herbes de Provence and the garlic (if using) and fry the bread cubes, remembering to stir so the bread doesn't burn and the oil doesn't soak in too much. Fry until golden brown.

Pour the soup into bowls and sprinkle with the bacon cubes and parsley. I serve the croutons separately in a little bowl so everyone can add them themselves, so they don't get too soggy from the soup before serving.

Enjoy!