Simple Potato-Leek Soup with Crispy Fried Capers for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

Potato soup and especially potato-leek soup is something I want often. It does the job of easing both my potato cravings and my soup cravings, it is something you can dress up or down, eat warm or cold, and it always seems to taste great. Since I am easing back into cooking and blogging after my absence last month as my lungs and I recover at home, I kept the soup simple but topped it with crispy fried capers for a bit of flavor punch.

Instead of using milk, cream, or coconut milk to add a creamy touch to the soup, I had a half-package of silken tofu left from making a sauce for grain bowls. I put two cups of the soup and the 8 ounces of silken tofu in the blender, pureed it, and added it back to the soup pot. It made the soup thick and creamy and there were still plenty of potato and leeks in the soup.

Potato-Leek Soup with Crispy Fried Capers
By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen
(Makes 4 to 5 generous servings)

2 Tbsp olive oil
4 medium leeks, white & light green parts, halved, cleaned and thinly sliced
1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp roasted garlic powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp celery salt
6 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and chopped into 3/4-inch cubes
6 cups vegetable broth (I used low sodium "Not Chicken bouillon)
sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste
8 oz silken tofu, optional
Crispy Fried Capers to serve--recipe below + olive oil and black pepper 

Heat olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add leeks and onion and saute about 5-6 minutes, until softened and translucent. Add minced garlic, roasted garlic powder, thyme,and celery salt and cook another minute or two. Add chopped potatoes and broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20-minutes--or until potatoes are cooked through. Taste and add sea salt and black pepper to season to your liking.

Take two cups of the soup and place it in a blender jar along with the silken tofu and puree until smooth. Stir the soup-tofu mixture back into the soup pot. Taste again and season with additional salt and black pepper as needed/desired. 

Serve soup in warmed bowls, topping with a drizzle of olive oil, a shake of black pepper and a 1/2 tablespoon or so of the fried capers. Enjoy!

Crispy Fried Capers 
By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen

Drain a 3.5 ounce (or so) jar of large capers in a sieve and pat dry (thoroughly) with paper towels. Heat 1/2-inch of vegetable oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. When you drop a caper in and the oil around it sizzles, the oil is hot enough. Add the capers (making sure they are in a single layer with a little room around them--you can fry them in batches if you prefer) and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring and moving them around gently with a slotted spoon. Capers will blossom and should have a light brown tone. Remove them from the pan with the slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. 

Notes/Results: The soup is simple but really tasty with the garlic, thyme and celery salt adding to the flavor. I also liked the creamy texture from the pureed Yukon Gold potatoes and the silken tofu. The tofu keeps the potatoes from having too gummy a texture and the 2 oz of tofu in each serving adds about 5 grams of protein, which is nice in a vegan soup. The crispy fried capers are a salty/briny burst of flavor. You could rinse the capers but I seldom do--I like that taste to much to rinse it off. If you aren't a caper fan, the soup is great on its own, or add some crispy fried onions to the top. I would happily make this soup again.

My friend Tina is in the Souper Sundays kitchen with me this week. :

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor shared tasty Farm Stand Noodle Soup and says, "This farm stand pasta was meant to be the main course.  I used the food processor to shred zucchini and I used a sharp knife for the corn, tomatoes and onions.  When combined with these tiny tubular pasta it was meant to be a bowl meal.  Well, it actually was  a bowl meal but alas, it was too much of a lightweight dinner so....the obvious solution is - turn it into soup. ... That's a winner for us as we bring lunch to work 98% of the time. Healthier and more economical. This is also a nice way to welcome Deb back to the blogging world by sharing a new recipe."

Thanks for joining me Tina and for being such a great friend and supporter!

About Souper Sundays:

Souper Sundays is back with a new format of a picture link each week where anyone interested can post their soups, salads, or sandwiches any time during the week and I post a recap of the entries the following week.)

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here. 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on the post you link up to be included.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (optional).

An InLinkz Link-up

  
Have a happy, healthy week!