Leek, potato and bacon soup

I'm a big fan of soup.

Not all soup, though.

But I love this soup.

It's leek, potato and bacon soup.

I served this to visitors on the weekend.

First, I made my stock.

(I don't always make my own stock, sometimes I use the 1 litre containers of prepared stuff)

I keep scraps of vegies in the freezer in a zip-lock bag - things like celery leaves and the skinny stems, root vegetable peelings and ends, ends of onions, basically, whatever is going at the time.  

That way, whenever I want to make vegetable stock, it's ready to go.

I also found a chicken frame leftover from a bag that I bought for the dogs.

I simmer the stock and some mixed herbs in a litre or two of water for a couple of hours, depending on my needs and how many scraps I have to use.

I drain it into another pot and give the scraps to the chickens to eat.

While the stock is simmering I cut up my soup ingredients.

I use the white part of the leek (and the green bits go into the washed zip-lock bag for the next lot of stock) and cut it into sections about an inch thick then rinse it in the colander to get the dirt out.

I chop up the potatoes as if I'm making mashed potato.

Then I roughly chop up the bacon.

This time I only had about 5 rashers of bacon to work with.

I add a wee bit of olive oil to the pan and cook over a low heat until the bacon has started to cook and everything else has that lovely 'glow' about it when it's covered in oil.

Once the leek has started to soften, I add the stock back into the pot and simmer for the rest of the day.

Sometimes I leave it for 4 hours, sometimes more.

It all depends on how much I'm making and when I want it ready for dinner. 

I usually try to reduce the soup by a quarter at least.

Then, when all of the potatoes have softened completely, I turn the stove off and use a blender to blend it all up.

I don't own a blender thingy with the jug, I use a stick blender; it takes a bit longer to do and not all of the bits of potato end up being smooshed, but that's okay.

Once it's all blended I return it to the heat and simmer for another half hour or so and add a cup or two of milk and stir just before serving.

Add heaps of salt and pepper, crusty bread and butter and voila - dinner is served.

Usually I get enough out of a pot to have a couple of extra days worth of meals to freeze, but this time everyone went back for seconds (or in one person's case, thirds) and there was nothing left. 

The pot was wiped clean with the last of the bread.

So, that's my soup recipe.

Nothing flash, but very tasty and very filling.

And I forgot to take a photo of the finished soup.  

I'm sure you know what it would look like.  

After all, it's just soup.

Enjoy!