Sorrel is a lemony perennial leafy herb. It grows easily and is hard to kill. There are variagated varieties that are pretty, but are tough and don’t taste as nice as the French culinary variety. It’s worth growing, especially if you like this soup, because you can’t usually find it in large enough quantities at the supermarket to make it. You can also use it as a nice bit of green in your garden when everything else is dead, or a little lemony kick in a mundane green salad. I’ve seen recipes for sorrel sorbet that look interesting, too.

There are just five ingredients in the basic soup recipe, not including salt and pepper:

Two leeks, white and light green areas sliced and well-rinsed

1 tablespoon of butter, olive oil, or canola oil

Three large waxy potatoes — like Yukon gold or Red Bliss — chopped. You can peel them if you want, but you don’t have to

1 quart low sodium chicken broth, vegetable broth, water, unsweetened almond, soy or rice milk

6 cups (packed) sorrel leaves, no stems, roughly chopped.

Saute the leeks in the fat, until translucent and softened. Add potatoes and broth. When the potatoes are soft, mash them in the pot and add the sorrel. It will cook down to a kind of ugly greyish green. Puree with a stick blender or in a blender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This freezes well and tastes even better. Make it creamier by adding some silken tofu or cream. Want to make it look pretty? Add a dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche and sprinkle with chopped chives and/or purple chive flowers.

Speaking of stick blenders, which I probably last mentioned way back when I started blogging in 2009, there’s a great deal going at Sur La Table for a free Breville stick blender (or other Breville product) if you take one of their Thanksgiving side dish classes. They don’t pay me or give me anything to suggest this. I’ve taken some of their classes and liked them all. But if you need a stick blender and some good recipes and have a hundred bucks to spare, it’s a great way to solve all the problems. Or give it as a gift. Chanukah comes early.