Recipes > Leek and Potato Soup with Smoked Haddock

Leek and Potato Soup with Smoked Haddock

Leek and potato soup, known in France as Vichysoisse. Without doubt, one of the finest soups in the world.

This is a variation on one of my favourite soups. It is so simple: sweat the leeks, potato and onion, then add in hot stock. Bring to the boil and cook for 12 minutes, add in the cream and heat through, then pass the soup passed through a sieve to make it silky smooth. Place finely diced smoked haddock in serving bowls, pour over the hot soup and let the smoked haddock cook in the heat from the soup.

Serve:

Preparation time:

25 mins

Cooking time:

30 mins

Cost:

Difficulty:

Ingredients

900ml Knorr Chicken Stock (made from 1 Knorr Chicken Stock Pot dissolved in 900ml boiling water)
25g butter
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
400g leeks, finely chopped
1 small potato, peeled and finely chopped
150ml double cream or single cream or half fat crème fraiche
1-2 tbsp very finely chopped chives
100g undyed smoked haddock fillet, skinned, any bones removed and finely diced

I add boiling Knorr Chicken Stock to my fried vegetables when making soup. Why? If I added in cold Knorr Chicken Stock, I’d slow down the cooking process. By adding boiling stock, the cooking time becomes more rapid and I retain the freshness of the vegetables.

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Method

1. Place the Knorr Chicken Stock in a large pan and bring to a gentle simmer.

2. Melt the butter in a separate, large, heavy saucepan. Add in the onion, leek and potato and cook over a high heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly so that the vegetables sweat, that is cook without colouring. The reason I do this, is that I want to drive out the moisture from the vegetables and so bring out their flavour. Have a look at my tip: The Secret to Sweating Your Vegetables.

3. Bring the simmering stock to the boil. Add the boiling stock to the sweated vegetables and bring to the boil. Cover and cook over a medium heat for 12 minutes. Add in the double cream and cook for 2 minutes.

4. Using a ladle, transfer the soup to a jug blender or food processor and blitz until smooth, doing this in a few stages if needed.

5. Pour the blitzed soup into a fine sieve over a large serving bowl and use the ladle to press the soup through the sieve; doing this in a few stages if needed. Return to the saucepan and bring to the boil briefly. If using single cream or half-fat crème fraiche, however, then heat through gently instead of bringing to the boil as otherwise it will curdle.

6. Sprinkle the chives over the soup and mix in. Divide the diced smoked haddock among 4 serving bowls, ladle over the hot soup (the heat from which will cook the smoked haddock through) and serve.

7. For a variation on this recipe, try my Leek and Potato Soup.