Creamy Potato Leek Soup with Asparagus and Spinach Oil-Free
A gentle soothing and satisfying creamy soup that celebrates the lush green flavors of spring. Make it your own by using your favorite combination of fresh garden herbs. Like a ray of sun after a spring rain, lemon juice brightens the mood of this nourishing soup.
Equipment
- Immersion Blender (stand alone blender or food processor could also work)
- large pot (5 to 7 quarts is ideal)
Ingredients
- 3 stalks leeks, sliced then washed, white and light green portions only (2 to 2½ cups)
- 3 stalks celery, sliced
- 2 to 3 Tbsp fresh garlic, chopped
- 5 cups vegetable stock (divided)
- 12 oz asparagus*, chopped (fresh or frozen)
- 2 large potatoes, cubed (peeled or unpeeled)
- 1 Tbsp shiitake mushroom powder (or another culinary mushroom powder such as porcini or lion's mane powder)
- 6 oz baby spinach
- ¼ cup fresh herbs** (I use a combination of parsley, thyme, mint and celery leaves)
- 1 large lemon (divided in half)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Separate 1 cup of vegetable stock for oil-free sautéing. Pour approximately 2 tablespoons of that vegetable stock into a large pot and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Keep the rest of the cup of stock close at hand
- Add leeks, celery and garlic to the boiling vegetable stock and sauté for about 4 minutes or until almost soft and tender, adding little bits of liquid, no more than 1 Tbsp at a time, as needed so that veggies don't burn or stick to the pot.
- Add asparagus and sauté for another 2 to 3 minutes adding small amounts of liquid as necessary.
- To the vegetables in the pot, add all remaining vegetable stock (4 cups + whatever you have left over from what you were using for oil-free sautéing), potatoes, and mushroom powder.
- Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until potatoes and asparagus are very soft.
- Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until potatoes and asparagus are very soft.
- Add spinach and fresh herbs and cook for one more minute or until the spinach is fully wilted, then turn off heat.
- Without removing the soup from the pot, use an immersion blender to process soup until smooth.***
- Squeeze the juice of one half of the lemon into the soup and stir. Then add salt and pepper to taste
- Serve with lemon wedges cut from the remaining half lemon.
Notes
* You can substitute the asparagus with the same amount of fresh zucchini, 12 oz or about 1-3/4 cup chopped.
**You can also use dry herbs but then you only need approximately 2 Tbsp. You can add dry herbs to the recipe when you add mushroom powder and potatoes.
***You could make this soup using a stand alone blender or food processor instead, but it's a bit of extra work because you would have to let the soup cool a bit first then run it through in batches. Another way is to strain out all the vegetables, puree them separately from the rest of the broth, then mix them back into the broth and reheat.
VARIATIONS
- Instead of baby spinach you can use the same amount of another green leafy vegetable like arugula or chard. Just make sure that your leafy vegetable is fully cooked or wilted before processing.
- Instead of asparagus you can use 2 to 3 cups of sliced zucchini.
- Many different combinations of herbs, fresh or dry, work in this recipe. You can choose to keep it simple and just add one herb with a strong personality such as dill or cilantro.
Tried this recipe? Let me know how it was!