Leek and Potato Soup with Savoury Pull Apart Bread - Credit Crunch Munch October

When I was asked to host Credit Crunch Munch this month, on behalf of Helen and Camilla, I knew I had to blog about one of my favourite Autumn dishes, SOUPS!  I love Autumn because the chillier weather is the prefect excuse to make soups which are like a culinary hug in a mug (or bowl).  I adore the versatility of soups and the fact they are usually fairly inexpensive to make adds to their appeal.  Soups are fab for using up leftovers and most freeze well for later.  As the weather gets colder I give my three daughters a cup of homemade soup when they get home from school, it helps to ease their hunger and warms them up as well.

The soup I made for lunch today used produce grown on our allotment.  The leeks, potatoes and herbs were all free, harvested yesterday from our allotment.  We've more leeks, swedes, chard and Brassicas to harvest which will be used in either soups, stews or to accompany our dinner.

Leek and Potato Soup

30ml/2 Tblsp olive oil

50g butter

2 leeks, trimmed, thinly sliced

1 or 2 cloves garlic, crushed

500g potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

2 vegetable stock cubes dissolved in 1 Litre of boiling water

Heat the oil and butter in a large, heavy-based saucepan over high heat.  Add sliced leeks and garlic, then cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the leeks have softened.  Add the prepared potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes.

Add the stock to the pan and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender.

Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes.  Using a stick blender, blend the leek and potato mixture until smooth.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Savoury Pull Apart Bread

This is a delicious accompaniment to soup and makes the meal more substantial, use whatever vegetables you have languishing in your fridge.  I used sweetcorn, pepper, parsley and thyme with Red Leicester cheese but have used courgettes, onion, cheddar and grated carrot in the past.  The bread is great for sandwiches or picnic lunches when the weather is nice enough to wrap up warm and head to the allotment or park.

450g strong white bread flour (I sometimes use ½ wholemeal bread flour and ½ white bread flour)

1tsp salt

1tsp caster sugar

2 sachets fast acting/instant dried yeast

200ml milk, warmed

100ml water (if using wholemeal bread flour add an extra tablespoon or two of water)

100g mature cheese, grated

Suggested additions, use a few of these to add extra flavour and bulk out your bread: herbs, sweetcorn, pepper, spring onion, grated carrot, grated courgette (squeeze out as much moisture as you can).

Topping:

25g butter, melted

100g mature cheese, grated

Put the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl, stir to combine.  Add the milk, water and yeast then mix until a dough forms.  Kneaded the dough until smooth and elastic.  This usually takes 10 – 15 minutes by hand or 5 – 7 minutes in my stand mixer.  Put the kneaded dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling film then set aside until doubled in size.

Knock back the dough then knead through your additions.  Divide the dough in to 9 or 12 equal pieces then roll each into a ball. Put in a lightly greased cake tin then leave for 30 – 45 minutes to rise again.  The dough balls should be joined together.

Preheat your oven to 200C Fan/220C/Gas Mark 7.  Melt 25g butter and brush over the top of the risen dough balls.  Sprinkle with the extra grated cheese.  Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden and cooked through.

Now it's your turn!

As I mentioned, I'm hosting Credit Crunch Munch this month so link up your favourite frugal, thrifty and tasty recipes - soups or otherwise.

To take part, blog about a food related money saving idea and add your post to the round up Linky.

Please use the logo, at the top of this post, and also link to Helen and Camilla’s Credit Crunch Munch pages.

Please respect the copyright of others when posting/linking up recipes.

By entering you are allowing the hosting blog Utterly Scrummy Food for Families, and challenge creators blogs Fuss Free Flavours and Fab Food 4 All, to post your image and pin to Pinterest.

Once you've entered your recipe in the linky, tweet your post to @fabfood4all @fussfreehelen and @utterlyscrummy using #creditcrunchmunch and we will retweet all those we see.

The closing date for this month is 30th October 2013.

Money saving topics could be:

Dishes using cheaper ingredients – cheap cuts of meat or vegetarian

Meals using leftovers

Meals using up the ends of packets

Substitutions of cheaper ingredients

Packed lunches

Meals that use less energy to cook

Pressure cooking

Slow cooking

Faster cooking – less oven time for example

Batch cooking for the freezer

Sustainable foods

Food you have grown yourself

Meals from reduced food in the supermarket

I can't wait to see all of your delicious budget conscious, thrifty and frugal recipes!