Leek, bacon and potato soup

Again we come home from Mums with veggie goodness! Perpetual leeks from her garden(I have them too, but not as good looking as these ones!), and spuds from Kalangadoo, no doubt given to her by a good friend from the town I grew up in as a kid.

Real brushed spuds, grown in volcanic dirt,  unlike the ones from this story featured in current affairs telly this week.

The obvious creation was Leek and potato soup. So this was my lunch on Wednesday, with all the trimmings, and it was delicioso(thank you google spell). I may have Spanish heritage but I can hardly speak or spell a word of it!

2 Tblspn olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

3 medium leeks, sliced

3 rashers bacon, chopped

5 medium potatoes, large diced

1 Litre water, or stock, you choose

Leaves from a sprig of thyme

Celery salt (this is what I threw in because I didn't have real celery on hand. If you do however, slice a stalk and throw it in when you fry up the leeks) 

Heat oil, add garlic, leeks and bacon and saute for about 5 minutes.

Add potato, thyme and water, bring to the boil and simmer rapidly for 20 minutes.

Plug in your stick blender and whiz until smooth as you like.

A couple of serving suggestions - 

Croutons and a sprinkling of paprika

Easy peasy croutons

Butter sliced bread, both sides.

Sprinkle on flavour, both sides. In this instance, I used mixed  dry herbs(out the garden) on one slice and finely grated parmesan on the other.

Cut into cubes and place on baking tray.

Bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes, or until desired crunchiness is reached.

Serve a small handful in middle of soup with a sprinkling of paprika. 

(any leftover croutons will store in an airtight container and are equally as scrumptious tossed in a salad!)

Crispy, Chunky, goodness.

Before blitzing soup, reserve a couple chunks of potato and leek per bowl.

Fry off a few strips of bacon until crispy good.

Serve in middle of bowl. Kapow!

Yumtious stuff right there peoples!