We’ve had some really rare weather here this year. But even though it has been sunny and incredibly beautiful, it’s still really cold (not East Coast cold, but cold.) So the good old comfort food standbys are still appealing.

I love soup. I don’t make it for dinner often because my husband doesn’t consider it a meal. But last week I got a wild hair and just had to have some leek soup. Because I love leeks! They’re in the onion family with a milder, less obnoxious onion flavor-delicious!!

I had never made it before, but since it turned out so great-with rave reviews from my other half, I thought I would share the recipe.

You will need:

1 cup of butter

1 1/2 cups of sliced leeks

4 cups diced potatoes

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups half and half (you can certainly use heavy cream instead, that would be extra delicious!)

salt and pepper to taste

cornstarch (if you want to thicken your soup. I didn’t have any…)

Bacon crumbles (optional)

Shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional)

1. Prepare your leeks. Cut off the green tops and the roots on the bottom.

Cut them in half, length-wise.

Then slice them to preferred thickness.

Throw them into a bowl and cover them with cold water. Swish them around a lot! This is important! Leeks have dirt all throughout the entire thing-pretty gross. This is the best way I’ve found to wash them thoroughly. Rinse them once or twice, then put them in a collander to rinse once more.  Set aside.

2. Prepare potatoes. Peel them if you prefer and cut to the size you want. Remember, the smaller they are, the less the cook time.

3. Melt butter in a large pot.

4. Add leeks to the butter. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until leeks become tender.

5. Add potatoes and chicken broth. Bring to a boil.

6. Once its boiling, add the half and half. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until potatoes are tender.

7. Add salt and pepper to taste. The soup is done if you’d like. But if you want a smooth soup, you can blend it, in batches. Or you could blend half of it, to keep some chunks, and have some smoothness. My husband prefers lots of chunks, so I used a slotted spoon to just smush around a bit, but kept most of the chunks intact.

8. Top with shredded cheese and crumbled bacon. (I am not a fan of cooking bacon. I hate flipping the strips in the pan, oil spattering everywhere. Then once cooked, its not as easy as I would like to chop it up into crumbles. So, instead, I cut the bacon into little pieces before cooking. It made life a lot easier for me. )

*The original recipe is from Life Tastes Good blog. I have adapted it for my family, our tastes, and ingredients I had on hand.

I hope you enjoy!!