An exploration in...Soup.

Well, for my day(s) off I decided to try to cook something fun and more complicated than my schedule will usually allow... All from scratch and using nothing that has ever been processed...

Started last night. One whole chicken, one sliced white onion, chopped carrots and celery, a couple cloves of garlic. Filled the pot (a nice, deep enamel stock pot) with water, a few dashes of salt and fresh grinds of pepper. Brought to a rolling boil and then dropped to a simmer before going to bed.

When I woke up in the morning, the chicken and veggies had almost completely disintegrated into a delicious mess...

Slowly straining the tasty tasty stock from all the dissolved chicken and veggie bits... I ended up with enough stock for this soup as well as about 8 cups worth that went up into the freezer to be used another day.

After straining off all the chicken bits, I added a bit of butter to the bottom of the pot and dropped in 3 chopped and cleaned (they get nasty dirty on the inside!) leeks... Stirred that around and let the leeks sweat and give off yummy flavor for about 10-15 minutes.

After the leeks are done sweating, I dropped in some roughly chopped baby bella mushrooms and just a few tablespoons of the home made broth to sautee all together.

While the leeks and mushrooms are cooking, I peeled a few cloves of garlic, lightly tossed them in olive oil, and then wrapped them in tin foil before putting them in the oven to roast for about 45 minutes.

This is what the leeks and mushrooms look like when they are happily sweated and sauteed...

On top of the leeks and mushrooms go cubed potatoes....

On top of the leeks, mushrooms, and potatoes goes the broth (just enough to cover)... and then it all gets brought to a boil and left to simmer for about 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, the potatoes are starting to dissolve into the broth...

About this same time the garlic is done roasting...

The whole pot is removed from the heat and I bring out my trusty immersion blender...

After about 3 minutes of blending, a very thick and smooth form of mushroom leek mashed potatoes is formed.

Don't forget the garlic!!

Time to make this a soup instead of a strange version of a Thanksgiving side dish.

After the half and half is added, the color is lighter and the texture is much smoother and creamier.

The finished product! Garnished with cracked pepper and parsley flakes. Pretty damn yummy.

Who says that a day alone at home has to be boring or wasted? I'll be eating off of this for the rest of the week!