Leek and Potato Soup with Pancetta

In my food box last week I was given leeks and potatoes, well and lots of other stuff, but as soon as I saw these two things, I knew leek and potato soup had to be on the menu this week. I made the soup on a day where I work a little later than usual, and was starving. It is a quick soup to make, when it was done, my chicken was done baking in the oven. I didn't take any pictures, I was way to hungry to worry about pictures and could only hold the kids off from eating other things for so long. So here's the recipe

3 leeks, cleaned well and sliced thin

6 medium to large Yukon potato, peeled and diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

150 g chopped pancetta

2 cartons of reduced sodium chicken stock, or homemade if you have it

2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup of milk

salt and pepper to taste

optional: sour cream, shredded cheese, green onion or chives

Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the pancetta, cook it for a few minutes to give the oil some flavour. Use a slotted spoon to take it out, keep as much oil as you can in the pot. Let the oil from the pancetta drain on a paper towel. Add the leeks and garlic to the pot, season with about 1/4 tsp each of salt and pepper. Saute the leeks and garlic for a few minutes or until the leeks start to soften a bit. Add the chicken stock a little bit at first to deglaze the pot. Scrape up all the little bits, then pour in the rest of the stock. Add the potatoes. Cover and boil until the potatoes are soft. At this point you can either blend the soup, a little bit at a time in a blender or use an immersion blender to blend it. Keep it chunky or make it smooth. When your done blending, add in your milk. Stir. Taste, add more salt and pepper if needed. Add the pancetta back to the soup. You can top it off with any of the optional ingredients and you can easily use bacon instead of pancetta.