In which there is a recipe that takes the place of potato-based, flour-thickened chowder.

Behold, one of my favorite meals of all time: the humble soup ‘n’ sandwich combo.

My version is a creamy veggie chowder with a creamy brie-and-avocado sandwich.

It’s freaking delicious. The first time I had it was at Petit Paris, a little French restaurant that inexplicably opened in Fairfield, IA when I lived there. They had this amazing herbed vegetable soup with heavy cream I learned to approximate and, of course, it hardly takes any skill at all to put mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato, brie, and avocado on a bit of trendy, crusty artisan bread*, so I’d been enjoying this meal for years.

But.

I don’t eat this meal any more because the soup contains both potato and white flour, and baguette — bless its crusty little soul — also metabolizes exactly like a candy bar. Since these ingredients wreak havoc with insulin, they’re just not on my daily roster any longer. (In fact, I haven’t eaten white bread in a year, and I consumed fewer than three whole potatoes in that time. You have no idea how many potatoes you eat until you quit eating them!)

But not being able to use potato or flour in my soups has limited my thickening options and, quite frankly, has been bummin’ me out. I have no interest in learning to use weird gelatinous thickeners, so these days if I want a thick soup I just use less liquid and puree the hell out of it in the Cuisinart and pretend it ain’t missin’ a potato or some kneaded butter.

The results are delicious much of the time, but ain’t the creamy chowder you want when there’s snow on the ground…

Which is why the soup below, which I made on Sunday, made me really happy when it turned out the way it did. It’s pretty dang chowdery! And creamy! And chowdery!

I’ll be able to use it as a base for the herbed French soup I’ve been missing; there’s no reason it can’t have tender veggies and herbs added to it. It would work as a corn chowder base, too!

It’s basically vichyssoise with cauliflower instead of potatoes.

Leek Soup

Ingredients

1/4 c. butter
2 large leeks, washed and chopped**
1 head cauliflower, chopped
4 c. broth, vegetable or chicken
1 c. cream or milk
1/4 tsp. fresh nutmeg, ground
salt & white pepper, to taste

Method

Heat the butter in the bottom of a stock pan. Add the leeks and sautee over medium heat for about ten minutes.

Add stock. Add cauliflower. Bring to a simmer; cook until cauliflower is tender, about ten minutes.

Add cream and nutmeg. Remove solids to a food processor and blend until smooth. Return to the stock pan and adjust seasonings while it re-warms.

Serve in warm bowls with cracked black pepper.

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*The brie sandwich can be reproduced on a low GI/GL bread, like the ones made by Food For Life. Ingredients are just mayo, brie, avocado, greens, and tomato.

** You may discard the green part of your leeks; or, you may chop them and fry separately in olive oil to use as a beautiful, dark green, crispy garnish; or, you can just go ahead and use the green part in the soup. If you do, your soup will be a lovely, pale green color.