Souper.

This soup was a hit. A big one. With all of us, even the veg-hating Emmett! Homemade Cream of Leek and Asparagus. Mmm.

I can imagine that this would be wonderful with local, fresh, spring asparagus, but it's still winter here so I had to make do with some South American stuff.

It'll make 4 good sized adult servings.

What you'll need:

• a huge bunch of asparagus (costco sized) or 2 regular sized bunches
• 1 leek, washed and chopped
• Butter
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup cream. Yup. It's a Cream soup.
• 4+ cups homemade or box chicken stock.

Saute the leek and garlic in a whole lotta butta. Like 60g or half a stick. Once they are soft, bung in your chopped up asparagus. Trim off the yucky hard bits down near the bottom. Put a lid on and saute for about 5 mins, then add your flour and stir well. Gradually add 4 or 5 cups of stock, stirring well in between additions. Make sure the asparagus is well covered but not swimming. Now simmer for about 10 mins, until the asparagus is tender, but still nice and green (do not over cook!). Now puree it with an immersion blender or decant into a regular blender. Add you cream, corect your seasoning with salt and pepper and swoon. Don't let it boil once you've added the cream.

This was even better the next day.

Three Cheers for Chowder!

Chowder. Who doesn't love it? Creamy, delicious, and chock-full of goodness. I've been thinking about Corn Chowder for a while so I decided to make it tonight. I adapted this quickie version from the Joy of Cooking so that it uses frozen corn. And it doesn't contain any cream or flour!

What you'll need:

• 4 cups frozen corn kernels - I like the peaches and cream ones
• 4.5 cups of milk. Yes milk, not cream!
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 rashers of bacon, chopped
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
• pat of butter

Start by sauteeing the bacon until it goes brown and crispy (but not burned!). This is an important step because it gets those browning flavours really flowing. And your saliva too, as you drool over the smell of bacon. Throw in the onion and stir until it's translucent. Then put in your milk, potato, and 1 cup of the corn kernels. These kernels will infuse the milk with corny-ness and the ones we put in later will still taste fresh on not overcooked! I have method in my madness. Grind some black pepper in. Simmer gently until the potato is cooked. Now add the corn and bring back to a simmer for a couple of mins, until the corn is cooked. Now take out a ladle and a half full of the solids and set aside. Puree the rest with an immersion blender and then add the solids back. Taste, correct seasoning (add more salt and/or pepper if needed), and stir in the pat of butter.

Serves about 4, or 2 exceeding greedy people with no bread, crackers etc on the side.

Leek and Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

Having been away for a few saturdays, I was very glad to go to my local farmer's market again this week. Among other things I was overjoyed to see some Jerusalem Artichokes. I'd never eaten them until a few years ago (having never seen them to buy plus being warned about the effects on the digestive system), but now we love them!

Here's what they look like:

Food France Fabulous

They are like a very nutty potato and can be used similarly.

I also bought some lovely leeks and some hardneck garlic and decided to make a soup:

• 2 large leeks
• 2 huge cloves of garlic
• 1 qt Jerusalem Artichokes, scrubbed
• 2 tetrapaks of Chicken Stock (or homemade)

Wash your leeks (very) thoroughly and chop roughly. Warm some olive oil and throw in the leeks, chopped garlic and chopped artichokes. When the leeks begin to soften, add enough stock to just cover the veg, some freshly ground black pepper and a bit of salt. Simmer until everything's tender (20 mins or so) and then puree using a stick blender.

Taste and adjust seasoning and serve with a drizzle of excellent artisan olive oil on top (or not if you don't have any).