For the 2021 Christmas season, we made a variety of soups. This one was one of them, and it combines two of our favourite soups into one: potato-leek, and mushroom-cream. It’s based roughly on Serious Eats’ and Chef John’s take on the dish.
Mechanic
This soup is an emulsion of potato starch and slowly stewed leeks. The easiest way to get it smooth at home is to blend with an immersion blender, then run the soup through a fine-mesh strainer (or a chinois).
Soup
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3–4 leeks, washed and finely sliced
- 125 ml (½ cup) dry sherry
- 2 L vegetable stock
- 3 russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 1 bay leaf
- salt and pepper
- 375 ml (1½ cups) cream (or sour cream, buttermilk, or cashew cream)
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over low heat. Add the leeks and cook slowly, stirring often so they don’t brown, until very soft, 15–25 minutes. Softer is better.
Deglaze with the sherry. Add the stock, potatoes, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Simmer gently until the potatoes start to fall apart.
Discard the bay leaf. Blend until smooth, taking care not to over-blend. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer and return to low heat.
Stir in the cream and nutmeg, and taste for seasoning.
Mushroom garnish
- 1–2 tbsp butter
- 225 g mushrooms, washed and sliced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tsp thyme
- salt and pepper
Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat and add the mushrooms, stirring often. Once the mushrooms release their water, add the garlic and thyme and season. Add more butter if the pan gets too dry. Sauté until browned.
To serve
Topped with the sautéed mushrooms, for a pop of savoury and colour.