Thursday, June 05, 2008

Last Night's Dinner: Potato and Leek Soup with Fresh Herbs

This dinner was actually Monday and Tuesday night's, not last night's, but I think I deserve a little leeway since I'm sick. I haven't been feeling great this week, but since we have a wedding to go to this weekend (and I looove weddings) I am unwilling to let myself succumb to my cold. Instead, I'm Zicamming it up all over the place, and cooking totally unseasonable things. Like soup.
When I woke up on Monday with a stuffy nose and sore throat, I knew I had to make some soup to get myself back on track. At the same time...it's hot out. So I compromised and found a sort of light soup - this potato and leek soup with fresh herbs. It's got only a little bit of cream in it, so it's not heavy at all.
I thought the consistency was perfect and that it had great flavor (both on Monday and when I had it again on Tuesday). Of course, I can't taste much, and the Zicam ruins the taste buds I still have working.
Cooper, on the other hand, thought the soup wasn't nearly hearty enough (he passed on it Tuesday night and had a Tarte d'Alsace from Trader Joes instead - they are amazing).
With that in mind, I probably won't make this again but, really, if you're not feeling well and want a sort of light, but filling soup...try it.
In other recent dinner notes, this week kicked off our summer/fall of CSA membership. Tuesday, I headed to the little farmers' market outside the Kenilworth Atwaters to pick up my first order from One Straw Farm. I decided to just do half orders this year, to see how much we use and how everything goes.
Last night, I made a quiche with fontina, baby portabellos and fresh spinach from One Straw Farm - our brand new CSA. Delicious, not surprisingly, as were the (also CSA-provided) strawberries we had with pudding and puff pastry for dessert.
Unfortunately, the salad I made with the quiche was a disappointment. When I saw this recipe for creamy horseradish vinaigrette, I was excited - it's exactly the kind of thing I love. Plus, I thought the soft texture of Boston lettuce and the crisp coolness of the cucumber sounded pretty ideal. But...it was totally blah. Not nearly enough spice for either one of us. But, we live and we learn.
Tonight I'm going to use the CSA-provided asparagus (probably the last of the season) alongside some sort of eggs benedict dish. I've never made that before and I don't actually eat eggs with my benedict (never have and, yes, I know it's not normal)...so we'll see how it goes.
Already, I'm pretty into the whole CSA thing. Besides the smugness I feel thanks to the whole supporting local farmers thing, I kind of like having some constraints around which I can plan meals. If I know I've got certain things in the refrigerator, I'll be a lot more creative and interesting in what I put together for dinner.
Plus, again, the smugness factor. It's great.

3 comments:

theminx said...

Hmm...maybe a coupla spoonsful of grated horseradish in addition to the horseradish cream would work? It sounds like it would be yummy over a salad topped with some nice roast beef.

Kit Pollard said...

That actually might work.

It just needed more kick. And I actually played with the ratio - added more vinegar and horseradish than recommended - just because I know we like things hottt.

Anonymous said...

yay for vichyssoise!

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