Starting Over, potato leek soup and salad

In 2007 I started this blog to share my cheesemaking and goat raising stories. It was originally called Goatmama's cheesemaking. I wrote 2 posts that I never published and since have sent my goats to live with a happy herd in another place. I still make cheese occasionally, but not like I used to.

I decided to start this blog over again, sharing my love of food and cooking. My friends are often asking for ideas for dinner, so I will be posting what I'm cooking every night. That's the idea anyway. We'll see how consistent I am.

Today isn't exactly the best place to start. It's a lazy, rainy, Sunday and I already made dinner this afternoon. Potato Leek Soup, which my kids enjoy, even my super picky spaghetti with butter boy. Great way to get him his veggies. This version is made with a chicken broth I made earlier in the week when I roasted a whole organic chicken for dinner and threw all the bones into a pot after carving. I covered with water and brought it to a boil then simmered it for about 2 days adding more cold water as needed as it reduced down, and sprinkling about 2 teaspoons of gray sea salt in on the second day. You need to mush down and break up the bones with a big spoon or masher to get all the yummy marrow out of the bones. When the bones are nice and soft and broken up strain the broth and cool. Sounds kind of yucky, but according to Weston Price (westonaprice.org) and Nourishing Traditions this is really, really good for you and your children. As a trained chef, I never cooked a chicken stock this long, but it's not bad, it's actually pretty good. Weston Price would say to drink 2 -3 cups of bone broth a week.

Potato Leek Soup

Melt a couple of tablespoons butter and olive oil in a large pot. Add 2-3 large leeks chopped, soaked and rinsed twice, 1 chopped onion and 1 clove chopped garlic. sweat gently till softened. Add 5-6 chopped potatoes and about 1 1/2 to 2 quarts water or chicken stock or combination of the two. You can also add some fresh thyme. Bring to a boil and simmer till potatoes are soft. Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender or run through blender or food processor. Season with salt and white pepper.

Serve with a green salad

Simple Vinaigrette

In your salad bowl add:

couple pinches salt
couple twists of black pepper
couple pinches dry mustard

add 1 Tablespoon red or white wine vinegar and mix with fork to dissolve mustard

Using your fork, Blend in 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Build your salad on top of the dressing in the bowl. When ready to serve, toss gently.