Cooking at Andrea's parents: potato-leek soup

The original plan for Christmas dinner was to make a squash soup, but then we couldn't find winter squash at the supermarket in Wegberg, so we decided to do a potato-leek soup instead.

Start by rendering and crisping some diced smoked bacon (300g). Remove the bacon pieces and cook sliced leeks (1kg) in the bacon fat with some salt until the leeks start to caramelize. In the meantime boil 2kg of peeled and quartered potatoes in sufficient water to cover them nicely. When the potatoes are tender, add the leeks, a grind of pepper, and some chicken boullion. Mash the potatoes a bit with a potato masher and then puree the whole thing with a stick blender. Add the reserved bacon and let the whole thing simmer for another 10-15 minutes to meld flavors. Just before serving, refine with a bit of cream.