Mother took her culinary influences from Constance Spry, Elizabeth David and her own well travelled life. Nobody could have criss-crossed the world much more than she had to.  But this is what we ate in England, during the two very cold years we stayed at home in Gravesend.  I have been making versions of it ever since, sometimes calling it two vegetable soup, as I remember the recipe by adding two of everything. 

Amanda

• Ingredients:  2 leeks, 2 potatoes, 500ml/ a pint of liquid, a handful of parsley, salt, pepper, I Tbsp butter, single cream.

• Alternate ingredients: 2 sticks of celery, 2 carrots, 2 onions, a bunch of spring onions, a handful of coriander

• Method:  Wash the leeks carefully and slice them diagonally.  In a heavy pan, (medium heat), sweat the leeks in the butter and a grind of black pepper.  When they are translucent, add the peeled and diced potatoes.  Stir them all together and wait until the potatoes are beginning to lose their sharp edges.  Then add 1/2 pint of milk and the same of water or vegetable stock.  Give the soup a thorough stir with a wooden spoon and throw in the chopped parsley stalks.

• Simmer until the potatoes are soft.  Then blend to a smooth consistencey using a stick blender or like me just mash it up a bit – depends how you want the soup to feel.  One note of caution – the strands of leek wrap themselves around blender blades which makes it hard to clean, so cut them finely.