Vegan Potato Leek Soup

Lots of leeks left over from the Sheet-pan Gnocchi recipe (one of the odd side effects of only using curbside grocery services is that it can sometimes be hard to specify the amount of something you want - I only had the option of picking "Leeks" without any idea how many that meant. Turned out it meant 4 enormous leeks.) Good thing I always have plenty of potatoes in the house, and also most of the other ingredients. Tweaked a little more to use oat milk instead of coconut, and left out the coriander powder as I don't have any and am not always a fan of coriander powder anyway. This made 8 jars of soup.

Vegan Potato Leek Soup

Adapted from Loving it Vegan

Ingredients

1 Onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
4 Large Leeks (washed well and cut into 1/2 inch moons; in addition to the white and light green sections, I also use quite a lot of the darker green parts of leeks, just not the very dark, tough looking parts)
1 tsp Dried Thyme
1 spring fresh rosemary (dried in original recipe but I've got a readily available rosemary bush)
6 Medium Potatoes (~2.2lb/1kg) – peeled and chopped
2 Bay Leaves
4 cups vegetable broth (I used 1 tablespoon of vegetarian Better than Bouillon and 4 cups water)
2 cups plain oat milk
Sea Salt and Black Pepper (to taste)

Method

1. Add the chopped onion and leeks to a pot with the crushed garlic and olive oil and sauté until softened. Add in the thyme and rosemary and sauté.
2. Add the chopped potatoes, bay leaves and vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pot and simmer until the potatoes are soft and cooked.
3. Remove from the heat and remove the bay leaves.
4. Then add in the oat milk.
5. Blend the soup using an immersion blender for the easiest blending or, if you don’t have an immersion blender, transfer in stages to a blender jug and blend until smooth.
6. Add sea salt and black pepper to taste.
7. Serve with fresh chopped chives.

Sheet-pan Gnocchi with Asparagus, Leeks and Peas

Cooking has become a stress-relieving weekend activity - trying to find interesting things to make to mitigate the feeling of being trapped is certainly helping. Plus it helps me know that there are tasty lunches for the rest of the week and that I can focus on the other things that take up most of my thinking time these days, like actively being anti-racist so that whenever this pandemic eases, we don't just go back in time.

This recipe was a huge hit - A couldn't stop raving about how tasty the crispy yet potatoey gnocchi were, and happily ate enormous servings of vegetables. Modifications made below to reflect what we had on hand, and I can see myself using the same gnocchi roasting technique and mixing them with lots of different other vegetables as well. I have yet to meet a roasted vegetable I don't enjoy. A couple of vegan adaptations included, which I don't think were too detrimental (though I really miss parmesan).

Sheet-pan Gnocchi with Asparagus, Leeks and Peas

Adapted from the NYTimes

Ingredients

24 ounces refrigerated, precooked gnocchi
5 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 bunch asparagus (about 1 pound), trimmed and cut into thirds
2 large leeks, trimmed, halved lengthwise, then sliced 1/2-inch thick (about 2 cups) - I don't mind the darker green parts of a leek, even though a lot of leek recipes have you discard them
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 lemon, scrubbed
½ cup grated Parmesan (optional)
¼ cup sliced fresh chives or parsley (optional)

Method

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss gnocchi with 3 tablespoons oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
2. On another rimmed baking sheet, toss asparagus and leeks with remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few generous grinds of pepper.
3. Put both pans in the oven, with the gnocchi on the bottom rack and the vegetables above. Stir the gnocchi and vegetables after 5 minutes to distribute the oil. Stir the vegetables once or twice more, but leave the gnocchi undisturbed. Roast until vegetables are golden and getting crispy on the edges, about 15 minutes total, and the gnocchi are golden brown on one side, 20 to 25 minutes total. Stir the peas into the vegetables in the last 5 minutes of cooking.
4. Combine the gnocchi and vegetables on one tray, then grate the lemon zest over the top. Sprinkle with half the Parmesan and chives/parsley, if using, saving some for serving. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss to combine, and transfer to a serving bowl or platter. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan and chives/parsley, if using, and serve immediately.