When I was in high school, between sophomore and junior year, my parents bought a ranch out in Utopia, Texas. My mom became an organic farmer known fondly as the “chicken lady” for the eggs and chicken that she sold at farmer’s markets. She had a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) that people could subscribe to and in order to help folks know how to cook what came in their weekly box of produce (or what they bought at the farmer’s market), she gathered and printed recipes for the different food items that she would sell. This recipe is one of those and has been a family favorite since then.
It’s February now and my volunteer leek patch is just growing up a storm ready to be made into tasty leek soup, among other recipes.
Austrian Cream Cheese Soup
Creamy vegetarian leek soup
Ingredients
- 6 leeks
- 4 celery ribs chopped
- 1/3 cup butter
- 5.5 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cup water
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 8-ounce package cream cheese
- 4 egg yolks
- 1.5 cup plain yogurt
- 1 tsp white pepper
- chopped fresh chives optional
Instructions
- Melt butter in a Dutch oven
- Add leeks and celery and sauté until tender.
- Add flour, cook, stirring constantly, 3 minutes.
- Stir in broth, 3 cups water, and salt; bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat; simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.
- Microwave cream cheese and yogurt in a 2-quart microwave-safe bowl at High 15 to 20 seconds or until warm; whisk until smooth.
- Whisk egg yolks into the cream cheese and yogurt mixture.
- Slowly whisk in 2 cups leek mixture to temper the egg yolks before adding to the soup.
- Stir cream cheese mixture and white pepper into leek mixture.
- Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly heated. (Do not boil.)
- Sprinkle with chives, if desired.
Notes
- White pepper really makes a difference here, so use it if you have it, but if not, you can substitute ground black pepper.
- Be careful to temper the eggs slowly before adding the yogurt/cream cheese/egg mixture to the soup, otherwise you may end up with scrambled eggs in your soup.