Every version of this soup online starts by sweating the leeks in butter. You do not need it. Potato thickens the soup all by itself, and the leek gives you the flavour that usually comes from the fat.
Serves 4. About 1 g fat and 180 kcal per serving.
Phase & care: P2. Leek is a later-phase vegetable for me and best in small amounts, so this is a settled-stomach soup rather than a first-week one. Tolerance varies per person. In the gentle phase, make it with carrot instead of leek and it still works.
Ingredients
- 2 medium leeks, white and pale green parts only, sliced thin and washed well
- 600 g (about 1.3 lb) potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1.2 litres (5 cups) low-salt vegetable broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons low-fat milk per bowl, optional
- Fresh parsley or chives to finish
- Salt to taste
Method
- Put the leeks in a dry heavy pan with 4 tablespoons of the broth. Cook gently for 8 minutes, adding a splash more broth if it sticks. You are softening them, not browning them.
- Add the potatoes, the rest of the broth and the bay leaf. Simmer 20 minutes, until the potato falls apart when pressed.
- Take out the bay leaf. Blend until smooth. It will be thicker than you expect.
- Stir the low-fat milk into each bowl if you want it paler and softer. Finish with herbs.
Leeks hold grit between the layers. Slice first, then wash in a bowl of water and lift them out rather than pouring, so the sand stays behind.
Freezes well in single portions, which is exactly what you want on a bad week.
Stepan’s rule: cream in a soup is a habit, not a technique. Starch, blending and time do the same job, and I get to eat a whole bowl instead of a careful half.
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Also low fat and easy on a sore pancreas: the mushroom and rice soup and the savoury oats with grated carrot and herbs. The full system, with the fat budget in grams and all 75 recipes, is in the book.
Not medical advice. This recipe reflects one patient’s low-fat approach grounded in published guidance. Fat tolerance is individual. Check with your own healthcare team before changing your diet.