What's in the pantry?

potatoes and leeks photo by Kristin
To spare you another rant about Seattle's weather, I'll just say that today I wanted to make a comforting soup for dinner out of ingredients that I already had on hand.
It kind of ended up being a trip down memory lane. I had some Yukon gold potatoes and two leeks in the fridge and thought of the baked potato soup I used to make. I think that's one of the first things I made for my friend and when she started calling me "chefetta".
Baked potato soup was something served at one of the first places I ever worked as a server. Back in State College, Pa. What a lifetime ago it seems, almost 15 years!

Baked potato soup photo by Kristin
Baked potato soup:
6 small/med. Yukon potatoes, or 2-3 Russet potatoes. (The Yukons will stay a little more firm, the Russets a little more crumbly)
2 leeks well cleaned and chopped
1-2 slices of bacon (optional)
2 TBS. flour
salt, pepper
1/2 c. cream or half/half
2 1/2 c. water/chicken stock or veggie stock(or broth if that's what you have)
cheddar cheese, chives, sour cream, for garnishing

Bake potatoes in oven or microwave and let cool.(I'm going to assume most of you know how to do this:) When they are cooled, you can leave the skin on and dice them, or scoop out insides and discard skin. Set aside, covered so they don't dry out.
Dice bacon and render in heavy bottomed pan. Remove bacon to paper towel and set aside. Drain any fat excess fat leaving about 2 TBS. in the pot. Add leeks, salt, pepper and flour. Stir occasionally for about 5 min. Add a little of the water/stock and stir, scraping up the good bits from the bottom of the pot. Slowly add the rest of water/stock and cream/half-half. Stir for a minute. Add potatoes and cook until heated through, stirring occasionally and adjusting seasonings if necessary. Serve garnished with reserved bacon, cheddar cheese and any other of your favorite baked potato toppings.

*update* 3/31
I forgot to mention that if you don't want to use bacon, just add about 2TBS olive oil or butter to pot and start where it says to add the leeks etc...(after baking the potatoes and letting them cool)

I had promised photos and details of our dinner party on Friday. What a disaster! Well, in a culinary context I mean. We were to have a good ol' fashioned fondue party except my trusted recipe ended up a fondon't. (Yup, I said that) I tried following that rule of "don't make anything you haven't before for a dinner party" and see what that got me...

Roasted potatoes photo by Kristin
I made these pretty roasted potatoes, sliced veggies, picked up a baguette, and my friend had some pulled roasted chicken. All this for dipping into silky, velvety, stick-to-your-chin-but-you-dont'-care cheese. The cheese just seized! Would not melt smoothly at all. I think the wine may have been to acidic, but I don't really know for sure. It was just a giant blob. We just had a laugh(I tried to anyway!) and sliced up the cheese(it tasted like fondue) and continued with dinner. The chocolate fondue was delicious, but I stayed away from helping with that one...

Strawberries for chocolate fondue photo by Kristin

The stars of the evening still loved me anyway.

The stars, Fiona and Detroit photo by Kristin

Thanks Erica and Casey for a great time!