Soupruary 24th: Creamy Potato Dill

Adam says I use too many exclamation points. Therefore, I'm going to pretend this is a movie and an exclamation point equals an eff bomb and I need a PG-13. This soup was secondsable!


Location:
My re-messed apartment (I think I've pushed my poor dishwasher a little too hard; it's mega on strike at the moment.)

Attendees:
Adam, Ashley, Joshua, and me

Yep, I made this dumb bowl.

Menu:
Romaine with homemade bleu cheese dressin'
Creamy Potato Dill soup
Girl Scout Cookies HOORAY! (It was delivery day in the office today--yet another reason to adore Amelia.)

Entertainment:
Ashley gave us the gift of a description of her incredible dream from last night. I won't go into detail, but let's just say cotton-candy pink and blue things came out of her and she blamed it on eating too much soup. There was a positive message, though: She was okay with it because she was surrounded by friends. Awwwwwww.


The Soup:
A while back, I took a lil facebook poll to see what soups people might like to try this year, and my friend Aileen suggested "Creamy Potato Dill." Having only just come around to liking dill within the last few years, I decided to give it a try. Having made quite a few potato soups in my day, I chose to cook intuitively, and I must say it turned out fairly close to what I had envisioned.

Creamy (but not too heavy), subtly dilly (lavender's blue), and perfect for a relaxing night sitting in front of the television with your friends, watching Scott Pilgrim vs. The World for the 50 millionth time. (It's actually hilarious...hilarious.)

You could also make this without the dill, or switch up the herb for, say, rosemary (or whatever you like/have on hand). This is just a standard, easy, super adaptable method--and you'd probably be okay with dried dill, too.

I peeled the potatoes because I wanted a really smooth consistency and color (the leeks and dill gave just a wee touch of green), but you could make it more rustic by leaving on the skins and blending it up less.

Remember to be be wary of over-pureeing here, too: You don't want those potato starches turning into glue on you.

So here's pretty much what I did to make...

Creamy Potato Dill Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 leeks, sliced, white and light green parts only
3 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
5 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
3 sprigs dill, 2 chopped, 1 reserved for garnish
1/4 cup low-fat milk, or to taste

Heat olive oil over medium low heat in your soup pot. Add leeks and a pinch of salt and cook for about 10 minutes.

Add potatoes and garlic, give it a good stir, and let cook for another 5 minutes or so.

Add chopped dill and water to just cover. Turn up to high until boiling, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Blend with an immersion blender until very smooth. Add milk, then blend to combine, adding more if necessary to reach desired texture. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with bits of fresh dill.