If velvet were a soup, I do believe it would be Leek, Potato, and Fennel Soup with Lemon. This handsome, savoury take on a traditional pairing, combining leek, potato, and fennel in a gloriously airy yet plush and puree, is a deeply sustaining cold weather family favourite.
Whenever it's soup season, I find myself working through a rotation of my greatest soup hits. Every now and then, a current favourite enters the roster and adds its delicious warm and novel, comfort, and this is one of those lovely additions. Departing from the usual thick texture and over-emphasis on potato that many traditional versions prefer, my take pairs savoury leek and flavoursome yellow fleshed potatoes in equal amounts. Fresh fennel joins in, with its bright and subtle anise like flavour. A small but critical finishing element is the addition of a big squeeze of lemon juice into each bowl before serving, the bright acidity of the lemon uplifting all of the savory allium flavours and bringing them together.
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Ingredients
This delicious soup requires only 7 simple ingredients, not including household staples such as olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- sweet onions
- garlic
- leeks
- yellow fleshed potatoes
- fresh fennel
- vegetable stock
- lemon
For this recipe I use sweet onions, which are milder and sweeter than white or yellow onions, and yukon gold potatoes, for their buttery, body enhancing flavour. Garlic add savory depth, fennel adds lightness to the finished soup’s texture along with its bright subtle anise notes, and lemon added right before serving adds a unifying zing that truly makes the soup shine!
Method
The kitchen alchemy begins with the simple chopping of ingredients, when all of the delectable, savoury fragrances of the vegetables meld together to create an atmosphere so fragrant you can practically taste it.
The tough and dark green upper sections of the leek, called the flag, are removed and saved for making broth or discarded in the compost. The tender, lighter green and white sections of the leek, called the shank, can be chopped and cleaned.
Clean your leeks!
Leeks are notoriously dirt laden, with all of those beautiful verdant layers hiding a gritty unwanted surprise unless you clean them most thoroughly. Simply split the leeks lengthwise, chop into sections, then toss into a big bowl of cold water. Swish the leeks around to loosen the dirt, allowing it to fall to the bottom of the bowl, leaving the clean leeks floating on the surface. To doubly make sure no grit stays hidden, scoop the chopped leeks into a strainer, making sure not to disturb the dirt at the bottom of the bowl, and then rinse under running water.
Easily made in the Instant Pot, and of course on the stovetop if you prefer, this soup is simple to prepare and easy to cook. Once the vegetables are prepped, the alliums are quickly sweated down in olive oil.
The chopped fennel and potato are added, along with the vegetable broth, and everything is left to cook until tender.
Once cooked, cooled, and then whizzed up in the blender, the soup comes together in a gloriously airy yet plush puree that gives a traditional velouté style soup a plant based run for its money.
Extra: Fennel Frond, Lemon Zest, and Black Pepper Butter
To gild the lily, quickly mix up this simple and delicious flavoured butter while the soup cooks, perfect for slathering on fresh bread and dunking into hot bowls of soup. Simply combine soft butter with finely chopped fennel fronds (reserved from the fennel bulb), the zest of one organic lemon, a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper, and salt to taste. Mix until combined and enjoy.
Amounts
The recipe as written makes a large batch of about three litres. I feel that if I’m going to make soup, I want enough to eat a couple of times with my family in a given week, with the rest socked away, safely frozen in glass jars, for easy cold weather meals. If this feels like too much soup for you, the recipe is easily halved.
More soup weather favourites on daraeats:
Leek, Potato, and Fennel Soup with Lemon (Instant Pot Friendly)
Ingredients
For the Soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 150 g sweet onions roughly chopped (about 1 small onion)
- 4 garlic cloves smashed
- 450 g leeks white and light green parts only (dark green sections removed and discarded), rinsed carefully to remove grit and roughly chopped (2-3 leeks)
- 450 g yellow fleshed potatoes peeled and roughly chopped (about 2 large potatoes)
- 350 g fennel bulb approximate weight; white parts of the bulb roughly chopped, a handful of fronds reserved (about 1 medium bulb)
- 2 litres vegetable stock see note
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- lemon wedges for each serving to serve
Optional; Fennel Frond, Lemon Zest, and Black Pepper Butter
- ½ cup salted butter vegan or dairy, softened to room temperature
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fennel fronds reserved from fennel bulb
- fine zest of 1 lemon organic and unwaxed if possible
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- (Makes about 3 litres, or approximately 8 servings)
For the soup, if using an Instant Pot:
- Set on saute mode, add the olive oil, and sweat down the onions, garlic cloves, and leeks for about 10 minutes until soft and reduced in volume.
- Add the potatoes, fennel, and broth, secure the lid, and with the pressure release valve set to “sealing”, and set your Instant Pot to cook on high pressure for 10 minutes.
- Important note: Once your Instant Pot has completed its cooking time, DO NOT release the pressure manually (as this will put you at risk of releasing boiling hot liquid out of the pressure release valve). Let the pressure release naturally on its own, making sure the locking pin has released (dropping down) before you unlock the instant pot and remove the lid.
- Once the soup has cooled, carefully transfer and blend in an upright blender, blending a bit longer than you think necessary to achieve the smoothest possible texture.
- Season the soup to taste with any extra salt if needed, and generous grinds of fresh black pepper.
- Reheat the soup to serve as needed, serve piping hot with extra grinds of black pepper on top. Make sure each bowl of soup is accompanied by a wedge of lemon to squeeze directly into each serving just before eating, or if you prefer, add at least half a lemon's worth of freshly squeezed lemon juice to the soup, taste, and adjust for lemon, before ladling out the soup.
For the soup, If cooking on the stove top:
- Follow the above directions, instead using a heavy bottomed soup pot on medium heat, adding the olive oil and sweating down the onions, garlic cloves, and leeks, then adding the potatoes, fennel, and broth, and cooking the soup for about 20 minutes, or until everything is soft and falling apart. Proceed as above.
Optional; Fennel Frond, Lemon Zest, and Black Pepper Butter
- Combine room temperature butter, chopped fennel fronds, lemon zest, and generous grinds of black pepper. Mix thoroughly until combined, taste, and adjust seasoning as needed. Serve thickly spread onto soft bread, and dunk into the hot soup to your heart's delight.
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