Dill-icious Cream of Potato Leek Soup

This recipe originated (as far as I know) with my mother, then I got hold of it and started tweaking, including elements from Julia Child’s version. This is my #1 comfort food. I can’t think of a single thing I’d rather eat when I need comfort, or on a chilly winter day. And it’s become something of a tradition in our family to eat this soup on the night before Christmas. My mother used to make it, and now I do and she says mine is better. :)

Cooking isn’t an exact science. Each time I make this, it’s a little different. A recipe is nothing more than a guideline. :)

Ingredients

  • 3 large or about 8 small russet (baking) potatoes Note: My ‘rule of thumb’ is to use one large potato or two small ones for each 1.5 bowls.
  • 1-2 leeks or half a large white onion, chopped
  • 2-3 stalks celery, chopped
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • garlic to taste, chopped or you can use garlic powder.
  • dill weed, fresh or dried, to taste
  • 1-3 Tbsp butter
  • 1-2 cups sour cream
  • 1-3 cups milk (GUESSTIMATE)

Garnishes

  • Crumbled crisp bacon
  • Grated cheese
  • Crackers

Instructions

Note that leeks vary wildly in how much of the green part is actually edible, and if you use a leek, you’ll need to judge how much of that is edible yourself. (Keep any you don’t use and toss it into the pot next time you make stock.) Rinse the leeks thoroughly after chopping because sand sometimes gets trapped in between the layers. The last thing you want in your soup is sand.

Chop the onion/leek, celery, and garlic. Small enough that you wouldn’t mind encountering them in a soup. (You’re going to use a hand-blender eventually, but some of the pieces won’t be blended.) Saute these in a large pot (big enough to hold all the ingredients) with some oil. When the onions are translucent or the leeks are nice and wilty and just a little brown around the edges, the celery is soft, and before you burn the garlic, turn off the heat.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into approximately 1″ chunks. Put them in the pot with the vegetables and cover them with water. Note: I cannot stand potato soup with the skins on the potatoes. Your mileage may vary. Leve ’em on if you like that.

Add some salt and some pepper. Bring this to a hard boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer until the potatoes are cooked, but not mushy. (Test: a fork should easily go into the potatoes without pressure, but the potatoes shouldn’t be falling apart when you stir them with a spoon.). You should have water barely covering them by this point. If not, once they’re done, siphon off some of the liquid with a ladle and for the love of God, save it to use in another soup because potato water is liquid gold.

With a hand-held potato masher (or one of those hand-blenders), you want to break the potatoes into small chunks, but don’t cream them — you want it to have a slightly chunky texture, but no HUGE chunks, you know? Sure you do. (Unless you like a silky smooth, creamy texture, which I used to sometimes make for my grandmother, who had denture problems. Then go for it.)

Now, add the butter and the dill and turn it down to low. Cover for 2 to 5 minutes and let the dill “blend,” taste-wise. Uncover and whisk in the sour cream. I go entirely by color and smell and texture. If you like a lot of sour cream, add a lot. If you’re not fond of sour cream, cut it out completely and just use milk (or cream, if you want to go all out). Once you have “enough” sour cream, let the soup simmer for a few minutes to bring it back up to temperature. Once it is hot again, slowly add the milk while whisking or stirring to blend.

The reason I put GUESSTIMATE up there is that — as indicated earlier — I go by color, smell, taste, and texture. You want enough milk that the soup turns a white-ISH color, but you don’t want it so milky that it tastes like milk with potatoes in it. You want it to taste like potatoes with milk in it. This recipe makes enough for about 5 – 6 bowls (depending on the bowl) and I used about 2 cups of milk and about 1 cup of sour cream.

Once you have “enough” milk, heat it on low until it’s hot, but don’t let the milk curdle, because that would be pretty disgusting.

Makes 5 to 6 single-bowl servings. Great with a grilled cheese sandwich and some crackers, but you probably knew that already. Serve piping hot — this is best when it’s almost hot enough to burn your tongue but not so hot that you can’t eat it.

Note: Two of the hardest foods to get salty enough are potatoes and anything involving cream or milk. It’s best to get the potatoes salty enough when you’re cooking them that you don’t have to add a lot at the end. A sure sign that I’ve failed is when people keep sprinkling salt into the bowl after the initial taste.

Note 2: Sometimes, I make this with two different kinds of potatoes. The russets and either Yukon gold or red wax potatoes. This gives two textures. The russets tend to be starchy and kind of dissolve, but the other types tend to stay more whole, and give you those little nuggets of potato-y goodness.

Note 3: You’ll note the glaring lack of flour in this. Restaurants use a roux (butter and flour) to thicken their potato soup. Cheaters! I like this one better because all the thickness comes from the starchy potatoes and not from a roux. But you can do that if you want. I won’t judge.

Much.