One of my favourite soups, both for its humble ingredients and innately soothing qualities, leek and potato tastes as warm and familiar as putting on a well-loved woolly jumper. It’s a recipe to make the most of some of the few homegrown vegetables available at this time of year – of course, in warmer weather you can chill it and call it vichyssoise, but right now that feels a very long way off.

Prep 5 min

Cook 1 hr 35 min

Serves 4

1 or 2 large baking potatoes, or 375g floury potatoes

2 large tbsp butter

450g trimmed leeks (ie, about 3 medium ones)

1 litre light chicken or vegetable stock, or water

Salt and pepper

4 tbsp soured cream, to serve

4 tbsp chopped chives, to serve

1 Choose the right potato

Ideally, use a floury, not a waxy potato variety for this recipe: the latter give the soup a slightly gluey consistency, though if you have only new potatoes to hand, be careful not to over-puree them in step 7. Maris piper, desiree, rooster or king edwards are all good bets. If you’re using multiple potatoes, rather than big baking ones, make sure they’re all roughly the same size.

Floury potatoes work best here. Prick and bake them, rather than boiling them, for a more pronounced flavour.

2 Cook the potatoes

Baking the potatoes will give your soup a more emphatic potato flavour. Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 5. Prick the potatoes several times with a skewer, to prevent them exploding in the oven, then put them on a lightly greased baking tray and bake for about 75 minutes, until cooked through.

3 Prepare the leeks

Leave the potatoes to cool slightly. Meanwhile, wash the leeks well, being careful to remove any grit lurking between the layers, trim off the woody bases, then roughly chop – use the entire leek, save for the toughest top green leaves on each stalk, which you can discard.

Wash and trim the leeks, then roughly chop; discard only the tops of the leaves, which are very tough.

4 Fry the leeks

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a fairly gentle heat, then fry the leeks, along with a pinch of salt, until they’re soft and silky, stirring regularly so they don’t begin to stick to the pan. Scoop out a couple of spoonfuls to use as a garnish, and set aside.

5 Chop and add the potatoes

Once they’re cool enough to handle, chop the potatoes into roughly evenly sized cubes, skin and all, then add them to the pan with the leeks. Saute the two together for a couple of minutes, until the potatoes are coated with butter; add a little extra fat if the mix seems on the dry side.

Fry the leeks in butter, then add the chopped, unskinned potatoes and stir to coat, before adding the stock.

6 Add the liquid

Add the stock or water – I like chicken stock, because it’s deliciously savoury yet more neutral than most vegetable stocks, which can be aggressively herbaceous. But use whichever you prefer, or even plain old water – though in that case you’ll need to season it well afterwards.

7 Cook, then blend

Bring the liquid to just below a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Leave it to cool slightly, transfer to a blender (or use a stick blender), blitz smooth, then return to the pan (if necessary).

8 Adjust the consistency

Thin the soup with a splash of water or milk if you prefer it more liquid, then taste and adjust the seasoning. Stir in the reserved leeks, reheat and divide between bowls. Top with a spoonful of soured cream and a sprinkling of chopped chives.

Bring to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes, then leave to cool a little, before blending and adding a few reserved fried leeks for texture.

9 Variations

This soup is easy to turn vegan: replace the butter with oil and the soured cream with a vegan alternative, or a splash of extra-virgin olive or hazelnut oil. To turn it into a more substantial dish, top with cooked crumbled bacon, grated cheese (something like lancashire or cheshire would be good) or toasted, roughly chopped hazelnuts.