Potato and Wild Leek (Ramps) Soup

potato and wild leek soup (photo by jhy)

There are literally hundreds of recipes on line for potato and onion/leek/ramp soup. I tried to keep this simple.

You will need:
a handful of wild leeks, which includes bulbs
(See Gathering Wild Leeks for tips on identifying and gathering leeks)
1 potato (about 8 ounces)
1 bullion cube- chicken or vegetable
1 T butter/oleo
1 T flour
1 c milk

Equipment:
2 saucepans (one about 2 qts. one smaller or a small frying pan)
spoon or spatula
knife

Prepare the leeks. After I brought mine home, I washed them, cut off the root ball, and then peeled down the outer skin of the bulb which removed any remaining dirt. After cleaning, I had 1.1 oz of leeks. Cut them into pieces- maybe 1/2 inch. Reserve a bit of the greens to dice for a garnish.

Dice the potato and boil in the larger pan with the cut up leeks, in at least 1 c. water and the bullion cube. Cook until soft.

potato and wild leek soup (photo by jhy)

Meanwhile, make a white sauce. Heat the butter and add flour. Stir to make a roux, then gradually add milk. Cook and stir over low heat until thickened.

Add the white sauce to the vegetables. Turn off heat and blend with an immersion blender. Or you can blend with a regular blender or an egg beater. Or you can do it the really old-fashioned way by pressing the soft vegetables through a sieve. If you do this, wait to add the white sauce until after you've done this and returned the sieved vegetables to the cooking water.

Garnish with the remaining leek leaves.

This made about 3 cups- one hearty dinner serving, or 2-3 side servings. The onion flavor was present, but not strong. You could use more leeks.

It took about 20 minutes to make.