Leek, potato and herb soup

Serves approximately 8 large bowls

You can of course experiment with different herbs in this recipe. Coriander would be a good option to try instead of the parsley, the sorrel may be hard to find, so you could leave it out, you could try some mint (but dont add too much!), or even add some fennel (again be cautious on not adding too much as it is a strong herb)

Ingredients:

2 large leeks

2 medium carrots

4 medium potatoes

3 garlic cloves

handful of sorrel

handful of thyme

handful of parsley

4 bay leaves

2 litres of water

olive oil

salt and pepper

 

Method

Wash the potatoes and carrots and chop roughly.  They only need to be peeled if they have thick skins - otherwise a good wash is enough. Place in a large saucepan, cover with about 1/2 litre of water, and plenty of salt and pepper, along with the bay leaves. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes or so.

Meantime, wash the leeks thoroughly, then chop into slices about 1 cm thick. Heat some olive oil in a large pan, then add the leeks and cook gently - you may have to do two batches if your pan isnt quite big enough.

Chop the garlic, and add to the leeks, then add the thyme. Allow to cook for about 10 minutes until softened and slightly caramalised.

Add into the potato and carrot mix.

Add the parsley and the sorrel and cook for about the last 5 minutes of the 20 minutes allowed earlier for the potato/carrot mix.

Puree the whole mix, adding in water as required to give a soup consistency. Depending on the sizes of the various ingredients, this is likely to be roughly 1 - 1.5 litres. Check the seasoning, and add more salt or pepper to taste.

Serve and enjoy!