From not one but two recipes in Clare Conner’s Irish Cooking
Sometimes you feel like putting together a meal that is quick
to make, doesn’t take a lot of obscure ingredients that you don’t have, and
just plain tastes good. I found a couple of recipes in the cookbook Irish
Cooking, but neither one was quite right—so what the heck, I went ahead and
combined them.
One was Leek and Potato Soup, the other was White
Onion Soup, and not surprisingly the recipes overlap. (Funny--when I see "onion soup" I always think of the French version, which is translucent. This one isn't--it's thicker and creamy.) I also fancied up the
result by adding coarsely chopped ham, for a bit of color and more flavor. I
will admit the idea was inspired by some leeks that I picked up at the market
last week: they were the size of baseball bats (well, almost).
Ingredients:
Yes, that big thing in the front left is six inches of a single leek--they were big! |
2
oz salted butter
1
lb white onions, thinly sliced
1
leek (white part only), thinly sliced
(all
right I confess: I used half onions and half leeks)
1
oz. plain flour
1/2
pound of potatoes, peeled
6
cups chicken stock
Salt
and white pepper
1/2
cup heavy cream
Oil
for frying
1/2
pound cooked ham steak, cut into cubes
A
few chives for garnish if you have any
Instructions:
Slice
your vegetables. Melt the butter in a large saucepan, then add the onions and
leeks and cook slowly over low heat (do not let them brown) for about 30
minutes.
Sprinkle
the flour over the leek-onion mixture and blend thoroughly. Gradually add the
chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer for about
15 minutes (until the liquid thickens some).
Saute
the ham pieces in oil in a small skillet.
Taste
the soup and add salt and pepper if you want. Puree the liquid (you can use a
food processor, but I happened to have an immersion blender that I bought at a
yard sale, and it worked well).
Return
to the heat. When the soup is hot, spoon or pour into individual bowls, then
sprinkle with the ham bits and chives.
(BTW,
this can also be served cold in summer. You might want to thin it with more
stock in that case.)
www.sheilaconnolly.com
You can have as many skeletons as you want.
ReplyDeleteWe like skeletons! Bring them on. But no cat skeletons, please.
ReplyDeleteHam, potatoes and leeks are a great mixture for a soup! And, yes, the specimen of leek shown in the photo is gargantuan. As for skeletons, I don’t have a problem of more than one on a cover.
ReplyDelete