Potato-Sorrel Soup

Sorrel is a perennial herb, harvested beginning in early spring, which should be in every garden so you can enjoy the lemony flavor of its leaves. The young leaves are nice in salads; throughout the summer and fall I use sorrel for soup, hot and cold, for tarts (sorrel-onion tart, delicious) and for sauces. A nice soup for this time of year, being that I'm eating lots of potatoes––the root cellar potatoes are starting to sprout, so I want to use them before they spoil [I love potatoes!]––is this sorrel and potato soup, another gem from Deborah Madison's The Greens Cookbook.




5 Tbs butter
6 1/2 cups water
3 leeks, white parts only (about 8 oz), cut into 1/4 inch rounds (I didn't have leeks, so used sliced onions instead)
4 to 6 oz sorrel leaves (about 8 cups), stems removed and roughly sliced or chopped
salt
1 1/2 lbs red potatoes, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced (I used French Fingerlings, a beautiful waxy potato, perfect for this soup)
pepper
sour cream (optional) and chives for garnish

1. Melt the butter in a soup pot with 1/2 cup water.
2. Add leeks (or onions), sorrel and salt, and stew, covered , for 5 minutes over medium low heat.
3. Add potatoes and cook another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Pour in the rest of the water, bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 1/2 hour.
5. Taste soup, adding salt if necessary. Serve with grinding of pepper and garnishes.