Creamy Leek & Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 500 g potatoes, peeled and diced
• 3 large leeks, white and pale green parts only, sliced
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 l vegetable stock
• 100 ml double cream
• 25 g butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 10 g chives, finely snipped
• Fine salt and black pepper

Method

1. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a heavy pot over a medium-low heat. Add the sliced leeks and chopped onion with a generous pinch of salt; the salt pulls the moisture out and stops them catching. Sweat gently for 8–10 minutes until very soft, glossy and just collapsing. You're not after colour here; brown leeks turn the finished soup grey and bitter.
2. Stir in the crushed garlic and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant; no more. Add the diced potatoes, bay leaf and dried thyme. Stir for a minute to coat everything in the buttery base.
3. Pour in the hot vegetable stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 15–18 minutes, uncovered, until a knife slips through the potato without any resistance. Anything less and the blended soup will be grainy.
4. Lift out the bay leaf. Blend with a stick blender straight in the pot; or in batches in a jug blender, lid cracked open and a tea towel over the top; until completely smooth and silky. Return to a low heat.
5. Stir in the double cream and warm through for 2–3 minutes; don't let it boil or the cream can split. The soup should coat the back of a spoon and leave a clean line when you draw a finger through it. Taste; plenty of salt and black pepper.
6. Ladle into warmed bowls. Scatter the snipped chives generously over each one, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and finish with a fresh crack of black pepper.