Thursday’s Culinary Adventure 3

 

Tonight on Thursday’s Culinary Adventure, (did you get my hint?  What do you not want a diaper to do?)…

 

 

Okay, so this isn’t actually what we are making tonight.  How in the world did that get there??!!  Oops!  Well, ho hum, as long as they are up, might as well take some time to admire my excellent fall cupcakes that I made today.  Please note the leafy cupcake liners and fall themed sprinkles   

 

Anywhoo, where were we?  Oh yes, what do you never want a diaper to do?

Leeks are in the same family as onions, and in that family, are most closely related to the Elephant Garlic. 

It is one of the national symbols of Wales, immensely popular there, and worn on the shirt of Welch men for St. David’s day.  (How do they hold it on?)  It was also, allegedly, the favorite vegetable of the famous Emperor Nero.

I will be adapting my favorite potato soup recipe into a Potato Leek Soup for tonight’s dinner.  Hip, hip, hooray!!

You will need Leeks (obviously), potatoes, chicken broth, butter, bacon, sour cream, and cheddar cheese (optional).

 

1)  Fry up your bacon.      Yumm!  Turkey processed and formed into bacon strips!  My favorite!! (no really…)  When it is nice and crispy, remove it from pan, (DO NOT DRAIN GREASE!!) crumble it up, and put it in the fridge to put on top later.

*Let me just take a minute to show you how huge, and slightly intimidating, Leeks are And keep in mind that I have a large, suspiciously melon-like head.*

 

 

2)  Cut off the top part of the Leeks

People only eat the light green and white part, so throw the dark green top away  (just in case you don’t know how to do that, I included a picture…)  Also, cut off the roots, then cut the Leek in half length-wise.

 

3)  You will be left with something like this

Notice all of the layers?  If the center part is hard, remove it, otherwise chop ‘er on up!  

 

4)  After you have chopped up the leeks, toss them in the pan with the bacon grease.  If you don’t have much grease, add a spoonful of butter.  Fry them up until they are tender and slightly opaque.

5)  Break out my BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD (besides Twizzlers) the

Now is probably a good time to tell you that I have a small crock pot, and I am making this recipe to make about 3-4 servings.  Using one Leek.  You may want to double it to feed more.

Plop those leeks into your trusty crock pot.  One leek made this much in my small crock pot

6)  Wash and cut up some potatoes and add those (raw) to your crock pot as well.  I left the skin on, and used 2.5 Russet potatoes. 

I also threw in some Butternut Squash puree that I had frozen. (I love Deceptively Delicious cook book!!)  That is why my soup will look a little orange…A Festive Bonus!!

7)  Here is where things get sketchy with measurements.  Do whatever you want to based on your tastes.  I added

A dash of salt

A larger dash of pepper

Some Rosemary

Half-way filled with chicken stock

A spoonful of sour cream

Two splashes of milk

Here is what it looked like when I put the lid on and waved goodbye.

I left it on high for four hours and when I came back from eating cupcakes with my friends, it looked like this    

 

8)  Mash up the potatoes with a fork, and add extra broth/milk until it reaches your desired consistency.

Top with shredded cheddar cheese, and the bacon bits from earlier.

TA DA!!!

 

The Taste Testers Say:

 

Brian: 

Caitlin: 

 

Joseph: 

 

YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY!!!!  So much for Joseph not liking potatoes…

 

Summary: 

Very yummy!  The Leeks gave it a mid onion-y flavor, not nearly so strong as if you had actually used onions!  A hot, hearty, delicious soup, with an excellent Leeky (word?) flavor.

I would think that you could use Leeks in recipes that call for onion, when you don’t want as harsh of an onion taste.  It is very mild and unobtrusive.

Grade:  A!!!!

In other news, did you notice Joseph’s eye owie?

Poor little buddy            

 

The adventuresome item next week is actually a recipe with an exciting finished product, so I can’t really give you a hint.  But, I can say that it will look like a Halloween character of some kind, and that you can eat it for dinner………….