We have had so much rain this season. It’s been relentlessly cold and wet, and I just can’t break my soup craving. I’ve also experimenting with home baked breads, and there’s nothing quite like a hot soup and fresh bread.
I did this soup with bacon, but it would also be great with crumbled sausage. If you want to swap for no meat, or something like beef or chicken, you’ll probably need to up the salt a bit, since the bacon brings quite a bit to the soup.
Ingredients
- 6-8 strips of bacon – cut into strips
- 2 Leeks – thinly sliced
- 3 Celery stalks – diced
- 2 Carrots – peeled and diced
- 1 Yellow Onion – diced
- 4-6 small potatoes – peeled and diced
- 2 Bay leaves
- Olive Oil
- 3-4 cups Chicken stock
- 1 cup Milk
- Salt + Pepper
Method
- Get all the ingredients peeled, washed, cut and ready to go.
- Heat a pot over medium, then add swirl of oil.
- Toss in the bacon and cook until it just starts to crisp on the edges, stirring occasionally to make sure it cooks evenly.
- When the bacon is ready, add in the carrots, celery and onion, and cook until onion starts to soften and brown.
- Add in leeks, potatoes and the bay leaves and let it cook with everything else until the potatoes just begin to soften
- Hit it with salt and pepper (don’t go crazy though, the bacon has already brought some salt to the soup), then add stock until it’s just a bit below the top of the ingredients.
- Pour in the milk, bring the whole thing to a boil, then cover and drop to a simmer
- Simmer for 20-30 minutes, taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
- Fish out the bay leaves and serve. Like most soups it goes wonderfully with fresh bread topped generously with butter.