leek and potato soup with lemongrass and coconut milk

… last week, along with a select few members of the media, I was invited to the launch of a new range of small domestic appliances by Hotpoint.  The food-prep range comprises of a rather sleek coffee machine, kettle and toaster along with a cool hand-blender set, a very chic mixer and a natty slow juicer but the item that really caught my eye was the steam blender.  The delightful Shelina Permalloo, winner of Masterchef, was there to demo the products for us and created some delicious goodies using the range… there are already a few ‘cook and blend’ products on the market but this steam blender is the only one that does it through a clever little reservoir of water which heats and turns to steam which is pressure-forced into the large glass jug where you place the vegetables.  It steams the veg… and we all the know the benefits of steam cooking… and then you simply press the blend button for your soup…

… anyway I left the launch event with a copy of Selina’s lovely book with thoughts of soup in my mind and when I got back to the office I rather cheekily gave the PR agency a call and asked for a steam blender of my own to play with and the next morning this little beauty arrived… well, if you don’t ask…

… as you know i’m pretty skeptical about these kitchen appliances that are supposed to make your life easier but in fact just make more washing-up and take up precious space on the work-surface but I have to say that after a quick twitter chat with Shelina and 15 minutes of steaming followed by a blast of the blender I had the most wonderful, tasty and fresh soup…

leek and potato soup with lemongrass and coconut milk
as it’s such a new product there really aren’t any recipes or techniques on-line to turn to as a guide, which was frustrating at first as I didn’t know if I should add the veg and the stock at the same time and I didn’t really have the time, budget or inclination for experimentation but Shelina recommended doing it all in one go and it worked out fine… i’m sure one more people use the product more recipes will be available but until then you’ll have to rely on little old me…

1 medium onion – finely chopped
3 leeks – washed and trimmed and chopped
2 medium potatoes – peeled and diced
1 stick of lemongrass – snapped in three places but still together
a handful of fresh or frozen peas
1 pint veg stock
150ml coconut milk
a pinch of salt and pepper to taste

place all the veg and the stock into the steam blender and set the time to 15 minutes and steam, after 10 mins add the coconut milk and continue to steam

once the steaming time is done, let it cool for 5 mins before removing the lemongrass and then blending till beautifully smooth

serve with a swirl of greek yoghurt

eat and of course, enjoy!