What's an easy recipe for potato and leak soup?!

I love potato leek soup!!! Here's a fairly easy recipe that I make at home:

2-4 large leeks, cleaned and sliced (white parts only)
1 box organic chicken broth
4 large baking potatos, scrubbed and cut into cubes
3/4 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Place leeks and potatos in soup pot with chicken broth. Cook until tender and don't drain. If you have a hand blender, blend the mixture until it's thick but somewhat creamy. Add cheese and sour cream. Season to taste. NOTE: I don't peel my potatos, so you'll have some "skins" in the mix. Also, I will often add mushrooms for a Potato Leek and Mushroom Bisque. Very good!

Ingredients
Imperial Metric
Butter or margarine

2 tablespoons


2 tablespoons
Garlic

1 clove grated or ? teaspoon of dried


1 clove grated or ? teaspoon of dried
Leek - two good sized ones 1 lb (pound) ? kilogram
Potatoes - two good sized ones 1 lb (pound) ? kilogram
4 cups chicken (or vegetable) broth or 4 cups hot water with two chicken (vegetable) stock cubes 2 pints 900 millilitres
Salt No more than ? teaspoon No more than ? teaspoon
Pepper (white or black) - this is a key ingredient ? teaspoon ? teaspoon
Milk or cream ? pint 225 millilitre

method
First, clean and chop the leeks. The easiest way to chop the leeks is to slice each leek longwise twice and then chop all the leek from top to bottom. Melt the butter / margarine in a pan and add the chopped leeks and garlic.

Fry them over a low to medium heat until the leeks are soft.

This will take about ten minutes. Stir frequently so that none of the ingredients brown.Peel the potatoes and chop them into cubes.Add all the remaining ingredients to the pan with the exception of the milk / cream.

Bring the soup to the boil and then let it simmer (just barely boiling) for the remaining cooking time.

If you want the potato to stay chunky, cook for 15 to 17 minutes until the potato is soft. If you want to mash the potatoes, cook for about 20 minutes.If you prefer the potatoes not to be chunky (the most popular way), simply use a masher to break down the potatoes in the pan.

You can use a blender to do this if you want but it's just more to wash up at the end!
ust before serving, pour the milk / cream into the soup and stir well. If you plan to freeze some of the soup, don't add the milk / cream to the pan, instead add three tablespoons of milk / cream to each soup bowl.

If you have parsley sprigs, be a show off and add a sprig to each bowl! Leek and potato soup freezes very well. If you like chunky potatoes in the soup however, these will not be so chunky when you reheat the frozen soup.

Leek and potato soup will keep up to two months when frozen.

potato leaks cream slat pepper chives sour cream
puree the potatos and leaks after boiling adding cream
add salt and pepper to enhance flavor
garnish with chives and a dot of sour cream