Recipe: Leek, Onion and Potato Soup - Vegetarian (Delia Smith)

I wanted to try a soup recipe from Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course book, and I finally settled for the "Leek, Onion and Potato Soup" seeing that this is one of Delia's personal favourite. According to Delia, leeks have an affinity with butter (she has several other recipes which pairs butter and leeks). The amount of butter she used in this recipe is 50g, however it can be reduced to half for those who are more health-conscious.

For a better flavoured vegetable soup, Delia suggests sweating them as the heat draws out the natural juices and the vegetables become softened before the liquid is added. To sweat the vegetables, simply coat the vegetables with melted butter thoroughly and then cook over the gentlest heat possible with the lid on, stirring from time to time - this process is called "sweating".

Leek, Onion and Potato Soup with Parmesan Popovers

For this recipe, there is the option of using a light chicken stock (see Step 1 here on how to make chicken stock) or water. In later editions (on her website), she added vegetable stock bouillon to the list. I went for the vegetable stock option, since I have been getting quite a lot of requests lately for vegetarian recipes and I wanted to see if the soup was flavorful enough using a vegetable stock.

Once the soup is ready, place it in a blender and puree until smooth. Another option is to roughly mash the ingredients if you prefer to have some "chunks" in your soup but I would suggest pureeing it for a smoother, creamier finish. Add a swirl of cream and fresh parsley before serving. If you like, you can also chill it; the chilled version of this soup is called Vichyssoise.

The soup was flavorful and light. We enjoyed the soup with some homemade Parmesan popovers (recipe here) as well as some German chorizo and Spanish Pata Negra (Jamón ibérico) ham that Mum brought back from Germany. A real satisfying spread for lunch!

Thanks to The Unc for getting these for us

And btw, Delia Smith will be receiving a BAFTA Special Award for her outstanding contribution to television cookery. Do also check out her new Online Cookery School which will teach you lots of cooking basics (Lesson 1 is baking a classic sponge cake).


Leek, Onion and Potato Soup (Vegetarian)
Recipe from Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 40-45 minutes
Serves 5-6

Ingredients
4 large leeks
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, chopped small
50g butter
850ml vegetable stock or water (or chicken stock for non-vegetarian option)
275ml milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve
1 tablespoon double cream
1 1/2 tbsp snipped fresh chives or chopped fresh parsley


1. Begin by trimming the leeks, discarding the tough outer layer. Now split them in half lengthways and slice them quite finely, then wash them thoroughly in two or three changes of water. Drain well.

2. In a large, thick-based saucepan over medium low heat, gently melt the butter, then add the leeks, onions and potatoes, stirring them all round with a wooden spoon so they get a nice coating of butter. Season with salt and pepper, then cover and let the vegetables sweat over a very low heat for about 15 minutes.

The leeks should look slightly translucent

3. After that, add the stock and milk, bring to simmering point, cover and let the soup simmer very gently over low heat for a further 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft – if you have the heat too high the milk in it may cause it to boil over.

4. Put the whole lot into a blender and blend to a purée. Return the soup to the saucepan and reheat gently, tasting to check the seasoning. Add a swirl of cream  before serving and sprinkle with freshly snipped chives or parsley.

Here are some other Delia Smith recipes I have tried previously: pavlova with fresh strawberries, fresh lemon curd, lemon curd butterfly cakes, American brownies and orange sauce.

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I am submitting this to the "Cook Like Delia Smith" bloghop which I am co-hosting with Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Mich of Piece of Cake. To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from any Delia Smith websites or cookbooks and blog hop with us for the whole month of March 2013.

Your post must be a current post i.e. posted in March 2013 - please do not link older posts.Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Mich of Piece of Cake and Baby Sumo of Eat your heart out.

You can get the HTML code here: get the InLinkz code (Click on the link, copy and paste the HTML code into your blog post where you want the blog hop list to appear. Make sure you are in HTML mode when you paste in the code)

Happy cooking! Do check out the other bloggers recipe below:

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