How to make Potato Leek Soup

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Simmering Pot of Potato Leek Soup

Simmering Pot of Potato Leek Soup

Here is a quick recipe to make a Creamy Potato Leek Soup.

It is one of our favorites. We were inspired to make this soup for two reasons:  1. A cool spring day in Tucson, and 2. We found the leeks at Trader Joe’s when we were shopping today. YEAH!  Today really was a great day to enjoy this soup- it was windy and cloudy and cool- down to 65!

Also when we say “creamy” soup, we mean “smooth and creamy” texture, not with lots of milk or cream added – although, you certainly could add milk or cream to this recipe if you like.  We like to add sour cream to the top of the soup in the serving bowl sometimes and swirl it around with our spoons as we eat Yummz!.

What you need/ Basic Ingredients (4 servings + leftovers):

  • Trader Joe’s Trimmed Leeks
  • Trader Joe’s Chicken broth or Vegetable broth (enough liquid to cover the potatoes and leeks)
  • Potatoes- we used 4 medium sized red skinned potatoes
  • Garlic- Trader Joe’s  Garlic
  • Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper, or Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute

How to:

1. Wash the leeks to remove any dirt (see previous post-Trader Joe’s Trimmed Leeks)

2. Add a couple of spoons of olive oil to a deep pan and cook the leeks and garlic for a few minutes.

3. Add the potatoes and broth to cover the vegetables

4. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer and let cook until the potatoes are soft and falling apart.

5. Let cool off the heat for 30 minutes.

6. Blend the soup in small batches in your blender- Use caution when blending hot ingredients. You may need to add more stock or water if the soup is too thick.

7. Season with salt and pepper, reheat if you need to and serve.

Finished Creamy Potato Leek Soup

Finished Creamy Potato Leek Soup

Variations:

  • You can serve this soup cold with a spoonful of sour cream or yogurt.
  • Add leftover vegetables to the pot before blending for a new flavor.
  • Garnish soup with chives, green onions or parsley.
  • Sprinkle with bacon or ham pieces

What will you add to your soup?

Trader Joe’s Trimmed Leeks

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Trader Joe's Trimmed Leeks

Trader Joe's Trimmed Leeks

You know how there is just SO many items at Trader Joe’s? And even thought you shop at the store all the time (and maybe at the exact same locations) you STILL see new stuff?

Here is our latest find: Trader Joe’s Trimmed Leeks

We love the taste of leeks- if you don’t know about leeks, they are a bit like onions, but they also have a hint of garlic to them. They are not overpowering in any way, so they make a good addition to soups or other vegetable dishes.

Our favorite way to eat them is in a Potato Leek Soup!

Now leeks are tricky vegetables. They are grown in sandy soil, which then gets into their many layers and can get trapped if you are not careful.  So please follow the directions below to make sure you get all the dirt and sand out of the leeks before cooking.

How to clean Leeks:

1. Cut off the root ends and slice the leeks the long way.

Leeks cut and ready to wash

Leeks cut and ready to wash

2. Cut the leeks into 1 inch pieces, or whatever size you need for your recipe.

3. Rinse leeks in a bowl of cool water, rubbing the pieces together between your hands to separate the layers.

Washing leeks in cool water to remove grit

Washing leeks in cool water to remove grit

4. Scoop out the leeks into a strainer, colander or onto a clean kitchen towel to drain. Be careful not to disturb any of the dirt/sand at the bottom of the bowl. When the bowl is empty, wash away the dirt/sand.

Cleaned leeks ready for cooking

Cleaned leeks ready for cooking

5. Rinse the leek pieces a second time, in the clean bowl, and scoop out into the strainer.

6. Now the leeks are clean and ready to use.

This does seem like a long list just to get ready to cook with leeks. But it does not take all that long.

We are going to use our leeks in a Potato Leek Soup- What are your favorite ways to cook with leeks?

Trader Joe’s Pecan & Hazelnut Crusted Salmon

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Trader Joe's Fish and Vegies for Dinner tonight

Trader Joe's Fish and Vegies for Dinner tonight

Like salmon?

Well, we sure do and we found a new product at Trader Joe’s that is just wonderful:

Trader Joe’s Farm Raised Pecan & Hazelnut Crusted Norwegian Salmon (now that’s a mouthful!)

Now, you might be wondering how this tasty little number has escaped out notice for so long? We are wondering that ourselves. In our defense, it seems that our Arizona Trader Joe’s store, has created a new section in the cold case which can only be described as “Salmon Land”. There are a number of different packages of smoked salmon, and also a number of different packages of fresh salmon to try. (Yes, you guessed right-  we are going to be “tasting” all those new kinds of salmon soon)

As you know, we both just LOVE nuts, so when we saw this package of salmon with nuts all around, we knew what we were going to have for dinner tonight!

This meal for two was so simple to make that it would be great for those who are just learning to cook.  You can add your favorite side dishes (maybe you like rice or carrots or corn) and just have a quick and delicious meal.
Now, truthfully, the directions on the package were a bit lacking, and so we just cooked the fish the way we normally would. There were two pieces in this package, so we just placed each piece on a piece of tin foil (use a bit of oil or spray on the foil so the fish does not stick) in a pan, and cooked it in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Trader Joe's Fish and Vegies in the pan

Start Cooking!

We also served the fish with one of our favorite Trader Joe’s frozen vegetables: Trader Joe’s Brittany Blend (a mixture of green beans, yellow beans and carrots) as well as a piece (or two or three…) of Artisan bread. This week it was Trader Joe’s Artisan Bread-Roasted Garlic with Thyme– YUM!
This meal was just wonderful. The fish had a nice crunchy nutty crust that gave a special flavor to the entire meal. We just love that vegetable blend (good color on the plate as well) and the bread? Well, what can we say but YUM!

This meal would make a great special occasion dinner (think Mother’s Day Dinner) or a easy meal any night of the week (Hey it’s Wednesday!).

Trader Joe's Fish dinner

Ready to Eat!

So check out your refrigerated fish area the next time you are at Trader Joe’s- there may be a great surprise in store for you.

PS- that cute little wedge of lemon comes with the Fish- Nice touch Trader Joe’s!!

Easy way to cook with onions

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We love to cook with onions and garlic. In fact, a few onions and a clove or two of garlic are the basis for most of our meals and most of the vegetables that we serve up.  As I am writing here,   I am realizing that we eat onions and garlic on (almost) a daily basis. WOW.

So what is the one part about cooking with onions that we absolutely hate… YES, the chopping of the onions.  All the shedding of tears etc… makes the whole job a real pain. But we are here to tell you that we have found a way to overcome this nightly onion situation.

Chop up 2 or 3 onions one night, and then freeze extras in a plastic bag.

What we do is exactly that. Sometime when we are cooking and have a bit more time in the kitchen (like a Saturday afternoon), we will chop up some extra onions, say 2 of them, and then place them in a zip-top bag and freeze them.  It helps to keep the bag as flat as possible as the onions are freezing.

Then when you are ready to cook with onions, you can just pour out some of the frozen onions right into the hot pan.  We have enjoyed having onions in more meals because we have a bag of frozen onions ready to cook in the freezer. It does not seem to be such a big deal to chop up a few onions to add to a meal when they are already to pour out into a pan, right?

Note: Because they were frozen, these onions might make some extra noise in your pan as they hit the hot oil, but so just be aware that they might make a popping noise and spit some oil out at you.

Bag of Frozen Onions

Bag of Frozen Onions