Smoked salmon, leek & potato soup

Our traditional English Christmas morning isn’t complete without smoked salmon on
buttered triangles of whole grain bread and a glass of Champagne.

Our late Auntie Margy gave us the gift of smoked salmon each year in place of material presents so that we could all enjoy it together.

This year to honor the tradition we found a local smokery in Upton, 15 minutes away tucked away in the Cotswolds, to meet our festive needs. The Upton Smokery champions real food and the raw salmon they smoke on the premises is fished in the north west of Scotland.

Then early this morning while out running I spotted 2 perfect rows of leeks bulging from the earth in an allotment garden, illuminating the seasonality of this week’s recipe smoked salmon, leek and potato soup.

Tomorrow on Christmas Eve we’ll enjoy the smoked salmon ribbons in leek and potato soup and the remainder will adorn our brunch table on Christmas Day. The slivers of smoked salmon stirred through the soup are very lightly poached and add texture and smokiness. The soup can be more or less indulgent but my preference is to add creme fraiche or full fat sour cream.

Author’s note: due to the transatlantic nature of the posts this month, I inadvertently left behind a number of images for this recipe on my desktop Mac. Therefore the step by step images are missing from this post. We hope that you will understand! 

Preparation Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 6 hours on LOW or 3 on HIGH

Servings 4 (easily scaled up to feed more)

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp light olive oil
• 4 cups / 2 large leeks, diced
• 2 tsp garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 lbs potatoes, 1/2″ dice
• 1 tsp thyme, dried
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup water
• 4oz smoked salmon, sliced
• 1 cup half and half / cream or sour cream
• 2 tbsp chives, chopped

Step 1 Heat the oil in a skillet and add the leeks. Soften the leeks for 2 minutes and stir in the garlic. Spoon into the slow cooker.

Step 2 Add the potatoes, thyme, salt, pepper, chicken broth and water to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or HIGH for 3 hours.3

Step 3 Remove the lid and partially blend using an immersion blender so that there are a few chunks of potato remaining.

Step 4 Stir in 3/4 of the smoked salmon and the half and half or sour cream / cream. Serve in bowls and top with the remaining salmon, chives and serve with thinly sliced whole grain bread.

Zen Moment

“Someone may offer you a freshly caught whole large fish, like a salmon or striped bass. Don’t panic – take it!”