STOEMP

STOEMP image

Yield 4 people

Number Of Ingredients 8

4 medium Idaho or russet baking potatoes,cubed
1/2 cup chicken broth, preferably homemade
1 tablespoon salt, plus additional to taste
2 large or 3 medium leeks (about 3/4 pound), white and light green parts only
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2/3 cup heavy (or whipping) cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Steps:

Put the potatoes into a big saucepan filled with cold water salted with 1 tablespoon of salt. Then bring the water to a boil, partially covering the saucepan. Then, cook over moderate heat until the potatoes are ready which takes about 20 minutes. Drained potatoes should be pressed through a mill into a bowl. Can also be simply mashed by hand with a wooden spoon. In the meantime, discard outer leaves of the leeks and cut off the roots. Wash the leeks thoroughly and slice into rings. Put some butter in a saucepan and melt it, adding the leeks and cooking them for about 5 minutes. They need to be stirred from time to time to avoid browning them. Add the chicken broth and cream as well as a pinch of salt, some pepper and grated nutmeg. Boil covered over small heat for 15 minutes. Drain the leeks and save the sauce - it should be put back to the saucepan and reduced by about half. Mix the potatoes with leeks and stir in the reduced sauce. Taste and add spice. If it is too dry, you can add more butter, cream or milk. Put the mixture into an ovenproof dish and keep around 2 hours in a preheated oven in temperature of 300 F (150 ºC), then reduced to some 150 F (65 ºC)