Potato Leek Soup

I remember when my mom first made potato leek soup. She found the recipe in a Williams-Sonoma catalog, and made it for dinner on a cold fall night to warm me up after football practice. My first impression was that it looked to me what I imagined gruel would look like: A vaguely green substance of unknown origin blended to a smooth, uniform texture. Frankly, it's a statement of how much I trusted my mother's cooking as a forth grader that I even tried it. But upon the first spoon full I was hooked on the gentle sweetness of the five ingredient soup, and quickly insisted that it became a staple in the household.

I'm not certain when she decided to deviate from the recipe for the first time, but at some point she decided to add small chunks of ham. (Her philosophy was then, and is today to some degree, it's not a meal if it doesn't have meat.) This was the first step of evolving this recipe from the traditional form of a French Potato Leek soup that it once was into the hearty, rib sticking, soul warming recipe that it's been developed into. This is, by the way, my favorite soup.

Inspiration: 7lbs of potatoes and one GIANT leek in the crop share this week
Time: 60 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special Equipment: enamel coated, cast iron pot (really, you just need a large pot with a thick bottom, but I like using the enamel coated caste iron because soup cooks better in it)
Servings: 6-8 bowls

Ingredients:

1 lb Italian sausage
2tbs + 2 tbs butter
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2-3 medium carrots, diced
2-3 stalks of celery, diced
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried sweet basil
2 medium leeks (or 1 GIANT LEEK), washed well, split in half and cut into 1/2", half rings
1 small-medium celery root, peeled and cubed into bite sized pieces
6-7 medium sized Yukon gold potatoes, washed well, and cubed into bite sized pieces
4 cups chicken broth or chicken stock (or Turkey stock)
1 cup whole milk

1. over medium low heat, brown Italian Sausage in large enamel coated cast iron pot. Remove from pan and drain, reserve 2 tbs of sausage fat in bottom of pot.
2. Add 2 tbs butter to sausage fat and melt. Add in onions, carrots, celery and herbs. Saute until carrots are tender and onions are transparent.
3. Add leeks to pot, turn heat to low and cover. Let steam for 10-15 minutes until leeks are tender (they turn bright green)
4. Add 1/4 of the chicken stock and deglaze pan. Add potatoes and celery root and stir. Add enough of the remaining stock until potatoes are covered (this could very easy take the rest of the stock). Turn heat up to medium and bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 10-15 minutes until potatoes are cooked.
5. Add milk, butter and any remaining stock that you have. Bring back to a boil. Then, being very, VERY careful NOT to burn yourself, use a potato masher to mash the potatoes and celery root so that only about 1/4 of the potato cubes remain.
6. Add sausage and let simmer for 5-10 minutes.

This soup is best served with some thinly cut spinach in the bottom of the bowl and topped off with some fresh Parmesan cheese. Also, fresh bread, such as Challah, goes very well to mop up the bottom of the bowl.