Roasted Potato Leek Soup

I think that this recipe is everywhere right now, kinda of like the no-knead bread was at various times last year. I've seen it on news sites, in blogs, and on my CSA's newsletter. It's probably "out there" because I believe Ina Garten has a new cookbook out.

This recipe is from "Back to Basics". If you google it, you'll find a lot of people used it and adapted it. Here's one example:

http://edibleventures.blogspot.com/2009/01/roasted-potato-leek-soup.html

That looks pretty good, and subbed milk for the cream the recipe called for. (I bought the cream. It was good. Maybe not healthy, but good.)

I, of course, adapted it based on what I had on hand. For one, I was cleaning out the fridge and tossed a few handfuls of slightly limp arugula...oops, recipe called for that. So I subbed some homemade parsley pesto (parsley, olive oil, parmesan, garlic). I only had two leeks, not four, so I added some roasted garlic. I used homemade turkey stock (from the Thanksgiving carcass).

Anyway, this was delicious. My son was so excited he could barely contain himself "SOUP!!" He loves soup. Our guests adored it, and went back for seconds. Luckily, there's still leftovers.

Roasted Potato Leek Soup
2 lb russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch dice: 0.20
2 large leeks: $2.00 (just a guess, these were from CSA)
3 cloves garlic, roasted: 0.15
3 T olive oil: 0.33
salt and pepper
1 cube parsley pesto: 0.25
7 cups turkey stock: $0
3/4 c. heavy cream: 1.13
1/4 c. sour cream: 0.06
1/4 c. dry white wine: 0.20
1/4 c. parmesan cheese: 0.34
Total: $4.66 for about 10 cups (maybe 11), or about $0.47 per cup.

Chop the leeks and soak in a water batch to let the dirt fall to the bottom. Lay the potatoes and leeks in a sheet pan. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast at 400F for about 40 mins, stirring 3 times in between.

When roasted, remove from pan. Add the wine (I used Prosecco, which is sparkling, because that's what I had), and 1 cup of stock to deglaze the pan.

Move the veggies in batches into the food processor and puree. Add the pureed veggies to the rest of the stock and cook gently until blended. Add the roasted garlic and pesto cube. At this point, I used the immersion blender to smooth it out even more.

Slowly add the heavy cream and sour cream. Add 2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper and taste seasonings. Stir in parmesan cheese and serve.