Sausage & Leek Soup

This recipe came about like many home recipes do. 

Looking in the fridge, I realized that I had a few Italian sausages that hadn’t made it to the grill.  There were also leeks that were supposed to have gone into another recipe that never made it to the testing block, as well as half a bag of baby carrots.  Oh look — there are two oversized potatoes in the bin. 

Voila – remnants turned into an amazing soup meal that made for amazing lunch leftovers (see pic)!

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons butter or olive oil
3 links mild Italian sausage, thinly sliced
1/2 cup white wine (or water, or broth)
3 leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced (whites and light green only)
2 cups diced carrots
2 large potatoes, diced
3-5 cups chicken broth (enough to barely cover the potatoes)
a pinch of red pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom pot over medium heat. 
Add the sausage and brown.  About 7 minutes.
Deglaze the pot using wine/water/broth.
Add the leeks, wilt for about 5 minutes.
Add the carrots and enough chicken stock to cover the carrots.  Heat thoroughly and cook for about 2 minutes.
Add potatoes and enough chicken stock to barely cover the potatoes.  (We add only enough to cover so that the result is a thicker soup.  You can always add more stock later to thin it out if you prefer a different consistency.)
Cook over medium until the potatoes and carrots are tender. 
You could use a potato masher to mash and stir until the potatoes are your desired consistency, but I left it chunky this time.
Remove from heat and serve.

 

I’ve shared this recipe in the following places:

Gluten-Free Wednesdays
Real Food Wednesday
What’s Cooking Wednesday
Tip Day Thursday

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