Ingrid van den Arend

Starter, serves 4. Preparation time approx. 30 minutes

• 300 grams of leek (white
  inner parts)
• 600 grams of floury potatoes
• 1 small shallot
• 50 grams of butter
• 1 litre of stock (2 tablets)
• 2 ripe pears
• lemon juice
• 1 decilitre of cream
• salt, pepper

Finely slice the white part of the leek (keep the green part for garnish) Wash the leeks. Peel the potatoes and cut into small cubes. Peel the shallot and slice thinly. Heat the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the potato, leek and onion, stir well, cover and gently cook over a very low heat for 10 min­utes. Stir a few times to prevent the onion from browning. Meanwhile, peel the pears. Scoop out around 12 balls with a melon scooper. Sprinkle the pear balls with lemon juice and keep for garnish. Cut the remainder of the pear into small piec­es. Put stock and pear pieces into a pan and bring to the boil; cook for approx. 5 minutes. Puree in a blender (in portions). Be careful as the soup is hot, so cover the blender lid with a tea towel. Pour the contents back into a clean saucepan. Add ¾ of the cream and the pear balls and heat thoroughly. Season well with salt and pepper.
Divide soup and pear balls onto 4 soup plates. Garnish with some cream and, optionally, with some blanched green leek rings.

Tip: This is a dish that can be made in advance, in which case you add the pear balls right before you heat the soup.