Potato leek soup w/ crumbled bacon…the blooper reel.

So, I made my first potato leek soup as outlined in Julia Child’s “Kitchen Wisdom” cookbook.  I used Long Island potatoes, and local leeks.  I peeled and chopped the potatoes, and watched a you-tube video on how to clean and prepare leeks.  The cookbook said to cut the root and the dark green leaves off, but the video said to keep the root on so that it doesn’t all come apart when you wash it.  Basically, after you cut the dark green leaves off, you have to cut it in half down the long way from the root to the tops, then roll it on the side and cut it in half again the long way, so that it is cut in quarter sections, then clean and rinse between the leaves, shake out excess water, and then starting at the top, cut crosswise in slices until you reach the root.  The recipe called for three cups roughly chopped ‘baking potoates,’ and three cups of the cut up leeks, boiled for 20 – 30 min in 6 cups of water.  What I really like about this recipe is the simplicity.  No oil, no fat needed to make it creamy and tasty – although a little butter or cream would not hurt. Once the stuff was boiled, I strained off a little of the excess water since it looked like it would be a very thin soup if I didn’t.  That’s when things started to take a turn for the worse… 

I wanted to puree it all so that it made a smooth soup, as opposed to a chunky soup.  Being the instant gratification junky that I am, I poured the hot water & boiled veggies into the blender, put the lid on, and hit blend.  Well.  That was a mistake.  Apparently, the hot liquid made hot air in the blender, and when I hit blend, it blew the top off the blender (even though I was firmly holding it down), and spewed hot soup all over.  My first reaction was shock, as I had been spattered with the boiling hot concoction.  In fact the blender stayed on while I tried to process what just happened and blended the rest of the soup to a perfect puree.  In the end the soup was delicious, but I have huge scald burns on my right arm and chest where it flew down my tank top and created the most intense of the splatter shaped burns.  I also bought this thin sliced pancetta that comes in a package from Schmidt’s on a whim and crumbled that into the soup – however I used too much, and after that it all just tasted like bacon.   Some things I would do different next time is to add another cup of potatoes to the mix.  I don’t know if it’s the type of potato I used, but I would like a thicker soup, and also a higher potato to leek ratio.  I would also wait until the soup is cool to blend.  I still like the idea of adding the crumbled bacon, but now I know to add less & make sure not to mix it in until it’s ready to eat so you keep that satisfying crunch.  Next time I might try turkey bacon.  Julia also recommends a dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche.