Gluten Free Potato, Leek and Arugula Soup

Just three weeks away from comps! Yikes!  The weather is still a bit cold and dreary, but signs of spring are popping up all over the place. Just a few days ago I was walking through the woods among yellow blooms and daffodil shoots making their slow pilgrimage to their sun god.  The birds are back in the trees, beginning their Spring songs, and the season's last snow mounds are melting away to reveal fresh growth in the grass beds below.  I love Spring in Philadelphia. Especially during April when all the trees blossom; it's truly a beautiful thing and I look forward to it every year:)

Being that it's still a bit chilly, I thought I'd share yet another yummy soup recipe.  I made this about a week ago and absolutely loved it!  Taste-bud orgasms galore!  Now you can keep this veggie and omit the crumbled bacon, but I highly suggest at least substituting it with some FACON, or something similar, just for the sake of having little crunchies throughout your soup to enjoy.  Also, feel free to add vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.

Regardless of whether you add crunchies or not, a steaming bowl of this soup is a wonderful thing on a cold, damp day.  Trust me, you'll love it!

Ingredients

• 1 onion (chopped)
• 3 leeks, mostly the white parts but a little green too (chopped)
• 2 medium size potatoes, of any variety (chopped)
• 4 tblsp butter
• 3 3/4 cups GF chicken/vegetable stock, or water
• 2-3 cups arugula (roughly chopped)
• 2/3 cups heavy cream
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper
• crumbled bacon, or facon (for topping)

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large soup pan, and add the onion, leeks and potatoes, stirring the whole mixture till everything is coated with melted butter.
2. Heat until sizzling and then turn heat to low.
3. Cover the vegetables and cook on low for 15 minutes.
4. Pour the stock or water in and bring to a boil over high heat.  As soon as it's boiling, reduce the heat to low, and keeping it covered, simmer for 20 more minutes.
5. Remove the cover, and using a large spoon or potato masher with a long handle, carefully mash up the vegetable chunks a bit.  You don't want the soup to be super creamy, but mashing it up a little will make it just creamy enough.
6. Add the chopped arugula, stir well and cook on low for another 5 minutes.
7. Stir in the heavy cream, season with S & P to taste, and continue to cook on low until the whole mixture is hot again.
8. Ladle into bowls and top with a pinch or two of bacon.
9. Grab your favorite soup spoon and get ready for a tastetastic experience!