Leek and Potato Soup

I've already got two other variations of this recipe on this site, but this weekend, with one of my local shops having some enormous leeks that looked perfect for the job, I decided to make the plain old simple version of it. I always find that leeks from the supermarket are always over-trimmed for making this soup as you get none of the green part of the leek and so the soup can look a little pale. The previous photo of Leek, Potato and Carrot soup definitely highlights this fact.

This was probably the first soup I ever tried to make, and I remember asking my Mum for the recipe and thinking that it just sounded far too simple to taste as good as I remembered. The recipe she gave me is the same as below, although in those days, she just told me to use Water instead of the Bouillon. This still tastes good, but a little Bouillon definitely enhances the flavour.

It has been pretty cold and wet over the weekend, so I wanted to make the soup nice and thick, especially as I wasn't having any bread with it. It also helped in the detox process which was needed after the excessive alcohol consumption during and after the Rugby on Saturday. For the final day of the Six Nations, with all games being on the same day, I think I'm going to cook the night before (like last year) so that there is something here that I can easily reheat. With Wales looking good for the Championship, I'm sure there will be more excesses.

Recipe for the Leek and Potato Soup (Serves 4)

• 25g Lightly Salted Butter
• 2 huge Leeks, green bits and all, roughly chopped
• 2 Baking Potatoes, cut into 1cm cubes
• 3 Bay Leaves
• 0.5 Litre Swiss Marigold Vegetable Bouillon
• 0.5 Litre Water
• Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Add the butter to a heavy bottom pan, and gently soften the leek in the butter for about 10 minutes. Add in the potato cubes and continue to gently cook for another 5 minutes. Add in the Vegetable Bouillon, Bay Leaves and lots of Fresh Ground Black Pepper and simmer for 40 minutes until the Potato is fully cooked. Add a little salt to taste, but personally, with there being Salt in the Butter and Bouillon, I prefer to just add Black Pepper myself.

You can serve the soup immediately, or blend to make completely smooth. Personally, I like to blend just half of it so that you get a nice thick soup with nice big chunks in it.

Welsh Cakes, and it's not even St David's Day

Since yesterday, Joseph has been nagging about making Welsh Cakes, but yesterday's fare took too long to start thinking about that. So, I made a deal that if we made them today, he would have to eat the fish ball things I was planning for later that day in return. Seemed like a good exchange to me. Also, it meant that I had a little helper to rub the flour and butter together so that I could carry on with working while Joseph got it to a breadcrumb texture.

Not having all the correct equipment to make these stove cakes was not a great problem. We used an empty wine bottle as a rolling bin (as was used yesterday for the pastie dough), glass to cut them out, and a big cast iron pan to cook them in, and so, presentation isn't perhaps their strong point, but they still came out better than the Welsh Rugby Team did against Scotland last weekend. Also, Sally was still at work, so I had to struggle with the photography myself.

Recipe for Welsh Cakes

• 220g Self Raising Flour
• 100g Butter
• 75g Granulated Sugar (should probably have been caster sugar, but this was what I could find)
• Handful of Sultanas
• 1 Large Egg
• 1 teaspoon of Mixed Spice

First, you need to rub the Butter into the Flour using your fingertips until it is the texture of breadcrumbs. Next add the Sugar, Sultanas and Mixed Spice and mix them altogether. Then add the egg and form into a slightly sticky dough. You can add a little milk if it is too dry, but I never need it.

Now just roll out the dough so that it's about 5mm thick and cut into circles of about 10cm in diameter. The pan should not be too hot and only lightly greased with a little butter before cooking the cakes. They should take a few minutes each side then can be served right away, the fresher the better.