Honey, We Sprung a Leek!
Yup, I am at it again – cooking and taking pictures of it. There could be worse habits out there I suppose. Lord knows this one isn’t overly exciting / dangerous / interesting. Ah well, here I go with subjecting you to more…
Today’s menu was chosen because I have been wanting to have some Potato Leek Soup since being back from the UK, where it seems more popular than here. I thought it might be rather boring all on its own and so I paired it with a Honey Beer Bread. The result? A resounding success! The bread was tasty and turned out just right – soft and moist in the middle with a crunchy crust – pretty damn good for my first bread. It was pretty simple though – flour, baking soda, salt, butter, a bottle of beer (my favorite part) and some honey. That is it! While it was baking away in the oven I prepared the soup and everything was ready for the table all at the same time.
First off, the Honey Beer Bread – five to ten minutes to prepare and then a little under an hour in the oven. Too easy. This recipe is from Gimme Some Oven (via foodgawker) – I followed it to a tee, using Rickard’s White wheat beer and you can really taste it. Can’t wait to see what other beers bring to the flavor of this bread.
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 Tbsp. sugar
* 1 Tbsp. baking powder
* 1 tsp. salt
* 2 Tbsp. honey or agave nectar
* 1 bottle (12 ounces) beer
* 4 Tbsp. (half stick) butter, melted
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9? x 5? x 3? inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a wooden spoon, stir the beer and honey into the dry ingredients until just mixed. (I recommend popping your honey in the microwave for a few seconds beforehand to make it easier to stir in!)
3. Pour half the melted butter into the loaf pan. Then spoon the batter into the pan, and pour the rest of the butter on top of the batter. (Use a pastry brush to spread it around if you’d like.)
4. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until top is golden brown and a toothpick/knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve immediately.
And to go with the bread, some Potato Leek Soup. This is actually a Weight Watcher’s recipe from Gina’s WW Recipes (via foodgawker again). I pretty much followed this one to a tee as well, except I added some more stock (maybe ½ – ¾ cup more) when boiling the potatoes and leeks to make sure they were all covered with liquid – it will probably depend on the size of potatoes and leeks how much you will need. I also did half chicken and half veggie stock since I had some of each opened. Other than that, no changes.
* 1 bunch leeks (about 4) dark green stems removed
* ½ white onion, chopped
* 2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
* 1 tbsp flour
* 1 tbsp butter
* 4 cups fat free chicken stock (homemade or canned)
* ½ cup 2% milk
* salt and fresh pepper
1. Wash leeks very carefully to remove all grit. I usually cut them horizontally and separate the rings to make sure no dirt remains. Coarsely chop them when washed.
2. In a medium soup pot, melt butter and add flour on low flame. Using a wooden spoon, mix well. This will thicken your soup and give it a wonderful flavor.
3. Add chicken stock, leeks, onion, potatoes and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low for about 20-25 minutes, until potatoes are soft.
4. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth adding the milk and adjusting salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
