Potato Leek Soup

Very hearty and wonderful in the winter. The leeks were in the nearly frozen ground until this past weekend. The potatoes needed a bit of peeling of the worst blemishes. The frozen corn is from last summer.

Chop the potatoes fairly small - this is dinner in under an hour and they need to cook fast. About 30 minutes on a high simmer. Then mash them in the pot while they are still cooking to make a heavy broth.

While the potatoes cook, wash and cut up the leeks.

It's a pleasant job since they're so nice to look at.

We needed to use up some shitake mushrooms while they were still fresh.

When the potato broth is ready, put in the leeks, chopped mushrooms and frozen corn along with some salt or tamari. Bring to simmer and cook another 10 or 15 minutes. I like to put lots of newly ground black pepper in the soup, but others don't, so I do that at the table. We had this tonight with popcorn and a "salad" of romaine lettuce with a sprinkling of balsamic vinegar.