Leek and Potato Soup---with chicken stock

2 pounds leeks
3 T butter
1 T thyme
1 bay leaf
1 pound Yukon gold potatoes
6 cups chicken stock
salt
pepper
fresh parsley or chives

Trim root ends and upper green tops of leeks. Dice and then wash in a large basin of cold water. Once the dirt has settled, scoop the diced leeks out with a sieve or strainer. Drain and set aside.
Heat a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the butter, followed by the leeks, thyme and bay leaf. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are tender, about 10 minutes. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1/4 inch slices. Add the potatoes to to the pot and cook for 3-4 minutes. Pour in the chicken stock, season with salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a low simmer and conitnue cooking until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart. Tast for salt and adfust as neeed. Let the soup cool to room temperature and refrigerate overnight or for several hours.
Before serving, remote the bay leaf and reheat the soup over medium heat and taste again for salt. Finish with black pepper and parsley or chives.

Carrot/Potato Vichy Soup

3 large potatoes, pared and sliced
1 pound pared (peeled), sliced carrots
2 bunching onions, sliced and rinsed
3 cups boiling water
 4 teaspoons chicken or vegetable broth
½ teaspoon salt
2 T butter, melted
2 ¾ cups half-and-half
Tabasco pepper sauce to taste

Combine vegetables, boiling water, broth and salt in a large heavy saucepan.  Cook, covered, until very tender, about 25 minutes.  Puree in blender OR USE HANDY HAND-HELD BLENDER.  Beat in butter, half-and-half, and Tabasco to taste.  Chill and serve cold or reheat over low heat, beating with wire whisk to blend well.  Top with parsley or other fresh herbs

Green Soup with Sweet Potatoes

From Yogajournal.com reprinted with permission from Love Soup, by Anna Thomas (Norton and Company, 2009)

2 T olive oil, plus more for garnish
2 yellow onions, chopped
Sea salt
1 ¼ pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
3 ½ cups water
2 -3 T chopped sage leaves
1 bunch kale
1 bunch chard
8 cloves garlic, peeled
3 cups vegetable broth
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh lemon juice

Heat olive oil in a medium pot over medium-low heat.  Add the onions and a pinch of salt and stir frequently until the onions are soft and golden brown, 30 – 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the sweet potatoes in a large pot with 3 ½ cups water, ½ teaspoon salt, and the sage.  Bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and simmer, covered, about 10 minutes.

Wash the kale and chard, trim away the tough stems, and chop.  Add to sweet potatoes along with garlic and vegetable broth.  Cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes.  Add the onions to the soup and let cool slightly.

Puree the mixture in a blender in batches, OR USE A HANDHELD BLENDER OR EMULSIFYING “STICK.”  Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.  To serve, drizzle olive oil over individual bowls of soup.

A Nice Potato Salad

Italian salad dressing or simple light vinaigrette of your choice
1-lb bag of potatoes from Peasants’ Plot (can add up to half a bag more)
bunch or two of bunching onions (“scallions”)
4 hard-cooked eggs
1 cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream
1 ½ teaspoon prepared horseradish mustard

Halve and/or quarter your potatoes.
Boil the potatoes until a fork pierces easily while they are still relatively firm.  This is to prevent the inevitable mush if you cook them too long.   The color will be stunning if you don’t cook the blues or reds too long.
Drain.

While still warm, pour a light vinaigrette over the potatoes and chill for 2 hours.  Add chopped onion.  Chop and crumble eggs; mix with mayonnaise, sour cream, and mustard; fold into salad.  Add salt and celery seed to taste.  Chill again.

Caramelized Vegetable and Meatball Soup

From sunset.com/chicken broth
1 small, peeled and seeded butternut squash
3 medium white potatoes
4 large carrots, peeled
10 - 15 garlic cloves!!!
¼ cup olive oil, divided
1 ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
2 ½ teaspoon sea salt, divided
1 lb ground turkey
1 T fennel seeds
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 bunching onions, cut into slices and rinsed
1 large head fennel, cut into ¼-inch slices (reserve feathery fronds for garnish)
8 cups chicken broth

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Arrange racks in upper and lower thirds of oven.  Cut squash, potatoes and carrots into 1-inch pieces and put in a large oiled roasting pan; add garlic.  Toss with 2 ½ T olive oil, 1 ½ teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper and spread out in a single lager, leaving as much room as possible around the pieces.  Roast on lower rack about 40 minutes or until browned and tender.  (Stir after they’ve browned underneath, about 25 minutes.)
Meanwhile, make meatballs:  With wet hands, mix turkey, fennel seeds, egg, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ tsp pepper together in a small bowl.  Oil you r hands with some of remaining oil.  Shape turkey mixture into 1-in meatballs and set them on an oiled rimmed baking sheet as you go.  Roast on upper rack 15 – 20 minutes, turning a couple of times to brown well on all sides.
Heat 1 T olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add onions and fennel, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
Pour in broth and bring to a boil over high heat, covered.  Lower heat and simmer vegetables until meltingly soft, about 25 minutes.
When vegetables in oven have caramelized and meatballs are browned, remove both from oven.  Transfer meatballs to roasting pan.  Pour a ladle of hot broth into baking sheet and scrape up browned bits.  Pour bits into roasting pan along with all contents of pot and gently scrape up vegetables’ browned bits.  Return to oven and bake 5 minutes to let flavors mingle.  Serve with hunks of warm bread.

Herb Roasted Potatoes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Halve or quarter small potatoes. 
Boil in salted water until the tip of a knife goes easily through the other part but the centers are still crisp, about 10 minutes. 
Drain the partially boiled potatoes well, then toss with olive oil, and seasoning. 
If you’d like, add fresh herbs. 
Place the potatoes in a casserole dish wide enough to hold them in a single layer, and roast, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes or until they are golden brown and crisp.