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Serves: 5

Time: 1 hr 

Price: $

Difficult: 2/5

Attention all of you penny-pinching, budget conscious students! Winter vegetables are cheap as chips at the moment so we may as well make the most of it. Potato leek soup is a real winter warmer, making a delicious recipe for dinners or lunches. Get yourself some tasty bread to dip and enjoy :)

Ingredients

• 1 large onion (diced)
• 2 large leeks (sliced) 
• 4 garlic cloves (chopped)
• 6 medium potatoes (diced) 
• 4-5 cups chicken/vegetable stock (depends on the amount of vegetables)
• 3 tsp dried thyme 
• 3 bay leaves 
• 250 mL cream
• Oil
• Salt 
• Pepper

Method

1. In your largest pot, add a glug of oil and bring to a medium heat.
2. Add the diced onion and cook until soft (about 5 mins). 
3. While the onion is cooking, slice the leeks. Begin slicing the leeks by chopping the green leaves off the top and discarding them so just the light green section remains. Slice the light green section in half lengthways, so you have two long semi-circle sections for each leek. Rinse the outer layers of these, ensuring there is no dirt in between layers (the outer sections are generally the dirtiest). Once clean, slice each lengthwise section horizontally into many semi circle shaped rounds. 
4. Add the leek to the pan with the onions and cook for a further 5 mins until wilted and fragrant. From here add the garlic, cooking for a further 3 mins.
5. Stir through the dried thyme, bay leaves, and diced potato and cook for about 10 mins. During this stage, stir in a generous amount of salt and pepper.
6. Add the chicken/vegetable stock to your vegetables. As a general rule, you want the stock to cover 5 cm above the top of the vegetables. The amount of liquid you add corresponds to how thick you like your soup, feel free to add more if you prefer a runnier soup.
7. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 mins until the potatoes are softened.
8. Remove from the heat and blend the soup with a stick blender or crush with a potato masher. If you have a blender/nutribullet, allow the soup to cool slightly before blending carefully. 
9. Stir through the cream.
10. Enjoy served with warm bread and butter!