Soup, delicious soup

First you have to make homemade chicken stock.  That's a given, don't even bother with that stuff in the boxes or in cans.  It won't turn out the same, I guarantee.  Chicken stock is so easy and thus you should always have some in your freezer.  Don't argue.  Just do it. When those really good chickens are on sale for about two bucks a pound, buy two.  One whole one goes in the stock pot, take the wings and backbone off the other one and put those in the pot, too.  Add the water, and the other stuff you need for stock, let it cook for 4 hours. Throw everything away (unless you have a dog, the dog will like some of the chicken but it really has no nutritional value after cooking for 4 hours.)  Then you have the rest of the second chicken to cook and the stock will go into quart deli containers, into your freezer.  Voila!  C'est simple.

  Then you can make this:
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017981-golden-leek-and-potato-soup

It is delicious.  As it says, it is more leeks than potatoes, which is fine with me.  But a couple things to note:  it takes at least 30 minutes to caramelize the leeks, so factor that in, and you should use half olive oil and half butter to saute them because it gives it a lot more richness.  I didn't have all the fresh herbs so I chopped up some fresh parsley and sauteed that with the leeks and I scrunched up some dried thyme when I added the potatoes and broth and it was fine.  I used Yukon Gold potatoes and I did roughly peel them because I hate it when you make soup or stew and the peelings separate from the potato and float around like flat air mattresses in the soup and they have no point.  But that's just me.  I did stir in some cream (half and half would work as well) because it seemed to need it. (Well, because I needed it, actually.)  Not a lot but some. 

It was so good.  And it reheats so well, so make accordingly.  Leeks are one of the overlooked onions, in my opinion, and this shows them well.

You could, of course, crumble a little crisp bacon on the top of each serving if you had it, but it needs nothing except a nice piece of toast and some crisp white wine.  But then, what doesn't?  Enjoy. 

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