Roasted Potato Leek Soup

I’m revisiting a lunch classic instead of fish—I’m making roasted potato leek soup with crispy shallots. So, I’ve got two pounds of potatoes peeled and I’ve got these huge leeks. And you need about four cups of diced leeks. Okay. Onto the roasted pan the potatoes and the leeks. Okay. Olive oil can’t rest that well, olive oil, good olive oil, I use California olive oil.

Okay. Lots of salt and pepper, make sure that it has great flavor. I'm going to roast this at 400 degrees about 40 to 45 minutes until it is really nice and tender. And then I’m going to add some arugula after it’s roasted for 40 to 45 minutes then add about three cups of arugula. It’s got a really nice peppery flavor. I’m going to put it back in the oven for about five minutes until the arugula just welts and just add that extra depth of flavor that I’m looking for.

So, what I’ve done is I’ve roasted the potatoes and the leeks, bring out the flavor in them. Just turn in some arugula for the last minute just enough to welt it. Now, what I’m going to do is add a little bit of white wine about half a cup to the pan. Just scrape off all those ground bits that give a sauce so much flavor and then we’re going to make sure it gives the soup lots of flavor. And it gets absorbed in the potato and it’s going to give it lots of great flavor. Okay. That’s all done. So, I’m just going to take it and put it in the food processor. What I’m looking for is a soup that’s smooth but has some texture. So, I'm just going to pour that half and I have to do it in two batches.

This vegetable is more fantastic. So, I’m just going to add some chicken stock. Let me I use about five cups total just enough to blend this. I want it coarse but chunky, fantastic.

Okay. So, that’s the puree. Now, I’m going to make it into soup. Just turn on low heat. I'm going to add a little more chicken stock, it’s about five cups total which is just enough until it is the right consistency. You want it thick, you don’t want it to taste like a vegetables. You want it to taste like soup. So, I’ll just whisk it in this pretty thick. And that depends on how much starches in the potatoes. I'm going to add a little cream. And since it’s a French soup, I’m going to add a little cream fresh. So, that’s a cup of cream just to give it a nice richness and then eight ounces of cream fresh which gives it a little sour sort of tart flavor. This is going to be wonderful. I thought it would be great to contrast the texture of the creamy soup with something crispy like this, crispy shallots.

Just add one and a half cups of light olive oil to a saucepan with three tablespoons of butter. Put in the thermometer and turn the heat on medium low. Meantime, slice six shallots in thin rings. You want crispy? You’ve got to have thin rings. When the oil and butter reach 220 degrees, you're all ready. So, turn the heat to low and add the shallots. They’ll take about 30 to 40 minutes to cook. Keep the temperature both 260 degrees so, they don’t burn. When they’re golden brown, take them out with a salted spoon and spread them onto paper towels to dry. Then the soup gets ladled into bowls and the finishing touches, extra parmesan cheese and those fabulous crispy shallots. It’s so beautiful and no airbrushing needed.