Pressure Cooker Leek and Potato Soup

For the last four days, I can't eat anything but soup after a difficult molar extraction. I know you feel me. There is only so much miso soup a gal can eat before she realizes that she is about to eat her own foot and when that happens, it's time to whip up something a little more hearty. My brain wants to eat steak and potato chips but my mouth has other ideas.

When I make anything with potatoes, I always like to throw in a sweet potato to make it a bit more nutritious, flavourful and to give it some beautiful colour while I'm at it. Making it in the pressure cooker makes an easy soup, even easier and we are always on board with that. When you factor in the time it takes for the soup to come to pressure, you probably are not saving a ton of time but what you can do is throw everything in the pot, set the timer and walk away, catch up on American Horror Story and not worry that the pot is boiling over or losing too much liquid.

Because there is no evaporation in the pressure cooker, I use less broth than I would to do this soup stovetop and once it's pureed, it is thick enough that there is no need to add cream. If you don't have one yet, it's time buy one and join the Instant Pot Cult. Resistance is futile.

Pressure Cooker Potato Leek Soup

serves 6

1/4 cup butter
2 large leeks, cleaned and sliced, white parts only
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2" cubes
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2" cubes
1 tbls fresh thyme
5 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
salt and pepper

* opptional - sour cream or greek yogurt to serve

Hit sauté button and when it's hot, melt the butter in your pressure cooker pot and sauté the leeks until they soften down, stirring often. Add in the potatoes, sweet potatoes and thyme and stir well before adding the stock.

Close the lid, make sure the vent is sealed and program for 6 minutes on High Pressure. You can do a quick release if you like or leave it to release on it's own - with soup like this it doesn't really matter.
Once the pressure is released and you open the lid, use an immersion blender to blend the soup until you have a smooth puree (you can also let it cool down a bit and puree it in a blender if you like).
Taste and adjust salt if needed, give it a few grinds of black pepper.

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