Meals in France are somewhat different than here in the States. We usually start our meal with an appetizer of some sort, if it is not Charcuterie ( cold Cuts), it is a soup in the winter and crudites in the summer ( fresh vegetables such as carrot salad). We then  have a main entree with meat, starch and vegetables which is followed by a salad with cheese and of course dessert. After the holidays, you can imagine, those desserts often become light sweets such as yogurts or fruits.

My mom made the best soups. One of my favorite soup growing up was carrot, potato and leek soup. And with this weather, I have been craving to eat this soup… the problem?!?! Leeks. It has been difficult to find leeks so today when i saw them, you can imagine that  I quickly grabbed a few of them to make that soup. Except that when I got home I realized I had forgotten to buy carrots… Oh well… today was going to be potato, leek soup.

Ingredients: 3 leeks, 5 medium sized potatoes, 1 cup of white wine, 5 cups of chicken broth, salt and pepper to taste, 3 tbsp of butter.

Trim the leeks to about 1 inch away from the white part. Cut the leek in half and rinse under water to clean all the sand. Chop the leek very thinly. In a large pot, melt the butter and when the butter is sizzling, add the chopped leeks. Turn the heat to low-medium heat to sweat the leeks for about 5 minutes. Add the cubed potatoes to the pot, and stir. Add the white wine and cook for a few minutes. Then add the broth to the pot and bring to boil. When it has come to boil, lower the temperature and cook for 20 minutes. With an emulsion mixer, puree the soup and add more broth if you think the soup needs to be more liquid. Season with salt and pepper if necessary. When serving, add chopped chives  and a dollop of sour cream and eat. Et voila!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

NB: by the way, those are not leeks pictured here;-)