Leek soup with poached eggs

I generally think that people make cooking too hard. Making a soufflé is hard, but making things like soup is not. So make soup, not soufflé. By keeping enough staples on hand, soup is an easy one. There's no right or wrong, just soup.

Staples used? Chicken broth, leeks, eggs, chicken fat, salt. That's it.

I generally think people over spice things, too. There's a time and a place for spices, lots of spices, and no spices. At the very least, realize that you don't have to spice things up to have good food. Have you ever had a steak that's been treated with just salt and pepper? Beautiful.

I'd made leek soup once before, on a cold day when I wanted French onion soup, but didn't have the staples to make it. Canned beef broth sucks, so I used chicken broth. My onions were the purple ones, which turn ugly looking when souped, but I had some leeks sitting right there. Finally, I had no melty cheese and I don't really eat bread. So, my French onion soup was now leek soup, and the only relation was the word "soup."

Luckily, I remembered the recipe yesterday.

Leek soup with poached eggs

Servers 2 people (to serve more, make extra)

2 leeks
1 tbsp chicken fat (or olive oil, I suppose)
4 cups chicken broth

salt, if necessary
2-4 eggs per person, minimum

Clean and cut the leeks into bite size portions.. Heat the fat or oil in a shallow saucepan over medium high heat. Add the leeks, cooking until they are soft and starting to brown. Add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Salt to taste, keeping in mind that the broth might already be salty enough. Cover and simmer for 30-45 minutes.

If you're going to be cooking a lot of eggs or want the prettiest presentation, then you can poach the eggs on the side. Here's Gal's Poached Egg methodology, hidden in the shadow of an herbed cheese.

Now, if there's enough room in the pot, you can do it right there in the soup.  If so, crack each egg into a measuring cup and gently slide it into the soup. Gently shake or swirl the pan a bit to keep it from sticking to the bottom. Cover the pan again, and let simmer for 5-7 minutes, depending on how hard you want the yolk.

Eat.