Soupy Sundays - Potato and Leek Soup

I'd decided on cooking soup for Sunday dinners for the rest of the year, so in essence, that gives me 5 more weeks of doing this. It's more to get into the habit of cooking and writing than anything else. Its also an opportunity to taste the great foccacia the missus makes for the soups.

Well, this weeks soupy Sunday was about simplicity and treading a beaten path. With showers on over the weekend and junior's cough taking its time to settle down, I thought a thick one-pot meal would be ideal. Potato and Leeks soup is a very common soup and a great one to cook if you want to just get things done in the kitchen and retire to bed early. Here's the recipe

Ingredients

2 medium potatos, skinned and diced into 1/2 cm cubes
3 leeks, stalks removed, cleaned and diced finely
1 cup milk
2 cups water
Salt and pepper to taste
3 cloves garlic (optional)
Finely chopped green stem of leeks to garnish (optional)

Start with cooking the garlic cloves in a mixture of 1tbsp butter and 1/2 tsp oil. Cook on low for 10mts till the leeks soften. Add the potato's and cover with just enough water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer for 20mts or till potato's are soft. Remove the mix and place in a blender with about half a cup of water from the soup.Blend as desired. I let a few chunks of potato lie in the mix. Add this back to the remaining liquid in the broth and stir in the blended mix. Add the milk and stir, all the while simmering the soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle out hot into bowls and serve with bread.

Soupy Sundays - Mushroom Soup with Focaccia

Winters here in Bangalore and it sure is chilly. The bright sun doesnt seem to be warming things up a lot so the garden is suffering. Wilted Poblano's and Jalapeno's and dying papaya saplings make a sorry tale.
Once the moping is done, its time to satiate the stomach. Decided to make the rest of the Sundays in the year 'soupy dinners'.
With the missus' ability to churn out breads at the drop of a hat (foccacia seems to be the mood), I added a complement of Mushroom soup with some really fresh looking button mushrooms bought over the weekend. This one is real easy and takes less than 20mts to make.

Ingredients
1/2 an onion, chopped into slices, dont worry about cutting these fine
1 packet of button mushrooms cleaned and roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup of red wine
1/2 cup milk (optional)
3 cups water (no broth here, I prefer it to be all 'mushroomy')
1/2 cup cream (optional)
1tsp cornstarch
salt & pepper to taste

 Add the garlic to hot oil in a saucepan . Add onions and cook till they brown. I like them to carmelize before deglazing the pan with the red wine. Once done, add the mushrooms and let them cook for about 5mts, taking care not to crowd them in the pan.

Once cooked, place all contents in a blender and puree to a fine paste. Remove and replace in the pan with the water. Bring to a gentle simmer adding the milk and cream. Simmer for a couple of minutes more and add salt and pepper as per your tastes. Pour and garnish with whatever you have lying around. I used Chopped chives from the garden and some roasted pepper dip. Serve with warm toasted bread. Luckily, we had freshly made foccacia

Notice there's no chilly here. I like my soups muted and like the main ingredient to stand on its feet with just a hint of salt and pepper.