Creamy Potato & Vegetable Soup

http://mountainbountyfarm.com/

Living in the mountains makes it tough to get great produce all year long but luckily we have an amazing CSA program. It is a little pricy up front but it is totally worth it! I get a fresh box of winter vegetables delivered to a location near me once a week for 24 weeks.

It has been two weeks now since the first CSA box arrived but I have been traveling too much and working too hard so I have not had a get creative and come up with fun recipes, until now! I was out of town when the last box was delivered but when I came home the b/f left me some leeks, fingerling potatoes, an onion and some carrots. I immediately thought about making potato soup but I only had about 3 cups of potatoes so I decided to just throw in a few other vegetables I had in the fridge and make something delicious. There are a few steps in making this soup but over all it is pretty simple.

http://www.peppercreekfarms.com/

 
One of my secret ingredients in the soup and lots of other dishes I make is an awesome  a Parmesan Garlic Bread Dipping Blend that I found at Boudin in San Francisco. I'm on my second jar of this goodness because it tastes so good in just about everything from pizzas to sandwiches.

 Ingredients

• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup leeks, bottom parts sliced into rings
• 1 small bulb of garlic
• 3 cups fingerling potatoes, partially peeled
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbs parmesan garlic
• cracked pepper  
• OPTIONAL - 2 tbs sour cream + 1/2 cup cream or milk

1. Roast Garlic - Preheat the oven to 400. Chop the top off of your garlic, exposing the cloves. Drizzle olive oil on the garlic until it is covered. Wrap the garlic in foil and bake for 35-40 minutes. When the garlic is ready simply squeeze the cloves out one by one.
2. Boil Potatoes - In a large pot bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add in a dash of salt and olive oil. Boil the potatoes for 10-15 minutes or until soft. Drain the potatoes, reserving 2 cups of the potato water for your soup. 
3. Sautee Veggies - While the potatoes are boiling, saute the celery, leeks and carrots in a pan for 3-5 minutes. 

Place the potatoes and garlic in the large pot, add in the vegetable broth and use a mixer or immersion blender to puree the potatoes until nice and smooth. Season with salt, Parmesan garlic and pepper. If you choose to use milk and sour cream add it now and stir well. Once the soup is seasoned and smooth add in the sauteed vegetable. Cook on low for 5-10 minutes. Serve warm.