If you are looking for a frugal dinner option, a foraged three-cornered leek soup will do you well! It’s a zingy, sharp and moreish broth with creamy undertones – delicious.
It is not often that I share foraged recipes here; however, I hit the jackpot the other day. I was weeding in the very back corner of my garden when I noticed a patch of white flowers that I didn’t recognise. A quick google told me that they were three-cornered leek.
Three-cornered leek is from the garlic and onion family. It’s considered invasive in the U.K., so foraging of it is heavily encouraged. When I saw the big patch in my garden, I knew it would end up in my kitchen!
All parts of the three-cornered leek are edible, and it has a taste similar to spring onion (which can be substituted in this dish if you can’t find any!)
The key to checking whether you have found three-cornered leek is by looking at the flowers – they should be white with green lines running down to the centre.
Ingredients, Substitutions and Variations
- Butter – this soup is best started with butter! But if necessary, you could switch for olive oil.
- Onion, celery, potato – these veg provide a nice flavourful base for your soup, along with thickness from the potato. You could also add a carrot and a couple of cloves of garlic.
- White wine – optional.
- Vegetable stock – or use one litre of water and a good vegetable stock cube.
- Three-cornered leek – the key ingredient! You’ll need a nice big bunch.
- Double cream – you could substitute for single cream.
If you love soup, why not try these 25+ of the Best Easy Soup Recipes out!
Top Tips
- Prepping your three-cornered leeks To pick your leeks, pull the whole thing from the ground – like if you were pulling a spring onion. Give them a wash and trim the bottom bulb and top flowers off. Discard any brown leaves.
- For a thicker soup Add more potato. This uses just one for a fairly light and liquid soup.
- For a chunkier soup If you like your soup chunky, use a potato masher to crush the potatoes lightly rather than a blender.
Three-Cornered Leek Soup
Ingredients
- 20 grams butter
- 1 onion
- 2 sticks celery
- 1 potato
- 1 small glass white wine
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- 250 grams three-cornered leek
- 80 ml double cream
Instructions
- Put a large saucepan on a medium heat. Add the butter and melt.
- Peel and finely chop the onion. Slice the celery. Chop the potato into 1cm chunks (no need to peel). Add the onion, celery and potato to the saucepan.
- Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, then add the white wine.
- When the wine has reduced by half, add the stock and bring to a simmer. Cook for around 15 minutes, until the potatoes have softened.
- Finely slice the three-cornered leeks and add to the pan. Simmer for 3 more minutes then blend until smooth.
- Taste then season with salt and pepper as needed. Add the cream, stir well and serve.
More delicious soup recipes:
- Celery Soup
- Simple Watercress Soup
- Roasted Squash Soup
- Curried Lentil Soup
- Cauliflower Cheese Soup
- Chilled Beetroot Soup
- Thai Noodle Soup
- Leek and Chorizo Soup
- Carrot and Ginger Soup
- Parsnip and Chestnut Soup
- Leek and Ricotta Soup
- Red Leicester and Broccoli Soup
- Potato Soup
