Sunday, January 27, 2008

zuppa di porri e patate!!

                                          
I'm going to apologise in advance for the amount of soups that will be on this blog over the next few weeks as I have  decided to make a new soup every Monday!!! I just find it so handy to have a container of soup in the fridge both for myself for lunch and for the princess. She's loving soup at the moment and it's a great way to get some veg into her, I just add some baby pasta and lots of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and she nearly licks the plate clean. We always add Parmesan to soup when serving as it gives it that extra flavour, I highly recommend you do it, you'll never go back:) I know you have all seen leek and potato soup a million times and it has definitely been over used and abused here in Ireland but it is still one of my favourites!! This recipe can also be served like a minestrone but I'm still liquidizing for the "boss"!!!

what you need:

 - 5 medium potatoes peeled and chopped into cubes!! I like this soup really thick!!

 - 3 leeks, white parts only sliced.

 - 1 onion finely chopped.

 - 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock - I used vegetable stock cubes from La Cucina!!

 - olive oil

 - 25g butter (optional if you are on a diet or healthy eating plan)

 - sea salt and black pepper.

what to do

 - heat some olive oil and your butter in a pot and add your onions and leeks and cook until softened but not coloured.

 - add your potatoes and stock and leave to simmer until all your vegetables are tender.  This takes about 30 mins.

 - take off heat,  liquidise(optional) and season.

 - serve with freshly grated Parmesan!!!

                                      
buon appetito!!!

p.s. just looking for new ideas so would love to know what your favourite soup is????
Posted by LOR&BRU at 21:29:08 | Permanent Link | Comments (10) |
Comments
1 - Favourite soup is roasted tomato and basil. The tomatoes are oven roasted with shallots and whole garlic cloves and the it's all blended together with fresh basil at the end. DIVINE

this looks pretty good, might make it for himself seeing as I'll be away next weekend and it's a damn sight healthier than weetabix and jam sandwiches!!!! (Comment this)

Written by: Rachel@fairycakeheaven at 2008/01/27 - 22:41:02
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2 - Rachel - I've been threatening to make this soup for ages, angela hartnett has a really nice recipe so it's next on my list. Cheers for the reminder:) Hope the husbag likes it!!! (Comment this)

Written by: LOR&BRU at 2008/01/27 - 23:05:27
3 - I've been making lots of homemade soups also, Lorraine. We always made "pastina" macaroni for the little ones. Are you familiar with it? You can add that to your baby's soup :) (Comment this)

Written by: Maryann at 2008/01/28 - 09:45:12
4 - There's a lot of soup-making going on around our way too. Can't be beat in this cold weather :-) My favourite would have to be the red pepper soup I posted about the other day. Although I've been wanting to try one that sounds quite similar to Rachel's above. And there's a lovely lentil one on the Gluten-Free Girl's blog I want to try... (Comment this)

Written by: Jen at Little Bird Eats at 2008/01/28 - 12:22:50
5 - roasted red onions, red peppers and sweet potatoes with stock goes down really well - try it! (Comment this)

Written by: bigtree at 2008/01/28 - 12:39:46
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6 - Maryann - indeed we do. You can't buy it here so we get it sent over from Italy. We get the Plasmon brand, all the differnt pastina and succa di frutta!! This child is spoilt wrotten:)

Jen - that red pepper soup looked lovely, I will def give that a go!! I'm after getting in new Italian lentils in the shop so I'll check that one out too, lentil and Italian sausage stew is next on my menu!!

bigtree - sounds good, I never use sweet potato and it's so popluar I will have to try it!! I love anything with roast peppers in it!! (Comment this)

Written by: LOR&BRU at 2008/01/28 - 15:53:06
7 - Lor, my fave soup of the moment is your courgette soup but I love a good mushroom soup in Winter time too. (Comment this)

Written by: Sarah at 2008/01/28 - 17:17:13
8 - Lor, This is another great soup created by you, but I must say I have a soft spot for your Zucchini soup, which I have made again, and probably again, real soon!!! (Comment this)

Written by: marie at 2008/01/30 - 06:40:04
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9 - During the winter, we too eat a lot of soup. I think it's one of my favorite food groups. I've been planning on trying a few potato/leek combinations and this one is going on the list. Thanks!
Oh, and as far as my favorite soup - I think it's a tie between spicy sausage & potato and tuscan tomato (which purees cannellini beans, roasted red peppers, and marinara sauce together for the base). Both are very tasty! (Comment this)

Written by: Angie Pangie at 2008/01/30 - 15:21:05
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10 - Sarah - I love mushroom soup too, made a really nice one a couple of weeks back with the gourmet mushrooms in Superquinn and some porcini - YUM!!

Marie - great to hear about the courgette soup, it's a goodie:)

Angie - soup is one of my favourites too!!! We actually do a sausage and potato soup in the shop, I do a similar bean soup with borlotti beans but the roasted peppers sound like a great addition:) (Comment this)

Written by: LOR&BRU at 2008/01/30 - 23:33:09
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