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This Spinach-Packed Take On Potato Leek Soup Is Cozy & Nutritious

Author:

October 23, 2024

Farmer & Chef

a first-generation farmer and restaurant-trained chef, star of the UK-based show A Taste of the Country and author of The Farm Table.

Image by Elena Heatherwick

October 23, 2024

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Spinach soup is the lifeblood of my family’s kitchen—cut our veins and we bleed green. At least once a fortnight we make a big batch of this vibrant elixir.

Nourishing, comforting, and delicious, it's perfect after a long day's work when you haven't got the energy to cook–vitality restored after a much-needed kick of iron. Great with a soft-boiled egg and crusty bread or even with a pan-fried fillet of fish.

I must have made hundreds of bowls of this soup, yet no two have ever been the same. Sometimes a basketful of nettles or wild garlic goes in with the spinach, or lacinato kale is subbed in for an extra-green version.

I often swap the potato for celery root, use extra leeks, or make it with vegetable stock instead of chicken. Sometimes it's thick, sometimes much thinner, sometimes with crème fraîche, sometimes with Stilton. You get the idea–the possibilities are endless. You should never feel bound by a recipe, especially a soup!

Ingredients

Serves 5 to 6

2 tbsp/30 g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 yellow onions, finely sliced
2 leeks, finely sliced
3 large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
5 oz/150 g potatoes, peeled and cubed
5 cups/1 liter chicken or vegetable stock
1.25–1.75 lbs/600–800 g spinach (1.75 lbs/800 g gives an intensely green and spinachy soup; feel free to swap a portion of the spinach for lacinato kale, wild garlic, or broccoli)
⅓ cup plus 1 tbsp/100 g crème fraîche, plus extra for serving
¼ whole nutmeg

Directions

Place a large pot on medium heat and melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the onions, leeks, and garlic with a big pinch of salt and cook right down until sweet and tender, being careful they don't take on any color, about 15 minutes.
Add the potatoes and the stock, then bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are completely tender. Add the spinach, mix it into the hot stock, and cover with a lid. Cook for just a minute, the shorter the better, until the spinach has barely wilted and has gone a deep green.
Immediately, either place in a blender or use an immersion blender and get it as smooth as you possibly can.
Add the crème fraîche and grate in the nutmeg, blend again, then taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Soups need a generous amount of salt, so keep tasting until you get it right.
Serve straight away with a dollop of crème fraîche, a drizzle of olive oil, and some buttery bread. This keeps well in the fridge; just warm up the amount you need, and do it gently or you'll ruin the color.

The Farm Table,t ext copyright © 2023 by Julius Roberts. Photographs copyright © 2023 by Elena Heatherwick, except as noted. Illustrations copyright © 2023 by Jethro Buck. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group.