Potato leek soup

Looking for another excuse to use the good ol' immersion blender, along with a spontaneous potato purchase at the farmer's market, I ended up searching recipes for potato leek soup. This Simply Recipes recipe is so simple, that I'll write it out. It's very creamy, which I love because I'm not really into broth-y soups, and also very filling, if you need a quick reheat for a late night dinner. However, there is no actual cream in this soup! Woo!

I don't have the best intuition when it comes to cooking, so I am trying to start small with improvising while mostly following recipes. For this soup, I added 4 small cloves of garlic, and probably could have added a little more. I'd also recommend using a tiny bit less than the half teaspoon of dried thyme. If there's one thing I hate doing, it's pulling thyme leaves off the stem, so I used the dried kind.

Lastly, I don't plan to make or post about a ton of soups, so for a great soup blog, check out Monday's Soup.

Ingredients

• 3 large leeks, cut lengthwise, separate, clean. Use only the white and pale green parts, chop.
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 2 lbs potatoes, peeled, diced into 1/2 inch pieces
• Marjoram - dash
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• Tabasco sauce or other red chili sauce
• Salt & Pepper

1 Cook leeks 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 marjoram, parsley, and thyme. Add a few dashes of chili sauce to taste. Add some freshly ground pepper, 1-2 teaspoons salt or more to taste.
Serves 4-6.