Help! We're Leeking!

Ok, you can't write a post about a vegetable called a leek and not make a pun in the title!

From the start, I knew that getting our farm share for the summer would stretch me beyond our salad/green beans/broccoli rotation in the vegetable department, and boy, was I right!  This week, our box included leeks and shallots ... umm, first I had to look up pictures online of what those were so I knew for sure what they were in our box.

And of course, I've seen Ina Garten turn these little-known beauties into all kinds of wonderful things on her show, but what do I know?  Well, I know to go to the Food Network website and start poking around.  So, that's exactly what I did and came upon lots of recipes for potato-leek soup, a classic French dish known as vichyssoise. 

As things like this normally go, I didn't have all the ingredients for any one recipe, so I threw together a little Ina, a little Alton, and came out with a pot of such deliciousness that the first thing our landlady said when she saw me this afternoon was, "WHAT were you cooking yesterday for dinner?  It smelled SO GOOD!"

So, without further ado, I give you...

Val’s Vichyssoise

(Roasted Potato Leek Soup with Crispy Shallots)

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (most recipes call for Yukon Gold, I had Russet on hand and they worked fine)

2 medium leeks, white and light green parts, cleaned and chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and black pepper

1/4 cup white wine

3 cups chicken stock

1/3 – 1/2 cup heavy cream

1/3 – 1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine the potatoes and leeks on a sheet pan in a single layer. Add the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and toss to coat the vegetables evenly. Roast for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of your pieces, turning them with a spatula a few times during cooking, until very tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.

In a blender, combine roast vegetables with chicken broth.  Blend until just combined, but still chunky.  (If you have the good fortune to own an immersion blender, by all means, whip that baby out!)

Pour the puree into a large pot.  Add the white wine, cream, and buttermilk.  Simmer until flavors have mingled and soup has thickened slightly.  Check the seasonings – add more salt, pepper, cream, etc., if needed. Serve topped with Crispy Shallots.  Serves 4.

Crispy Shallots (these were purely an Ina Garten concoction... you go girl!)

1 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

5 to 6 shallots, peeled and sliced into thin rings

Heat the oil and butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it reaches 220 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

Add the shallots, and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, until they are a rich golden brown. The temperature should stay below 260 degrees. Stir the shallots occasionally to make sure they brown evenly. Watch carefully … it takes forever to get to golden brown, but then they proceed to burned in no time flat. Remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon, drain well, and spread out to cool on paper towels.