Velvety carrot soup with leeks and ginger

A delicious Winter-time dish with a special taste because of the ginger which, admittedly, is not traditionally used in the Greek cuisine. The carrots though?? The leeks? The soups??? Oh, definitely yes! So, here we have a nice soup with this humble vegetable as the main star. A soup which will satisfy your hunger to the full

Slightly adapted from a recipe of Argyro Barbarigou
 a prominent Head Cook in Greece

Check out her site Argiro for more delicious recipes

Ingredients (for 4 people):
500gr. of carrots, peeled and cut in small cubes
1 leek, finely chopped (the white and the tender green part)
1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and cut in small cubes
500ml of chicken stock (or vegetable)
1 pinch of ground ginger
1 pinch of ground nutmeg
salt
pepper
1/4 tea-cup of olive oil
1 tbsp of butter
plain Greek yoghurt to garnish (optional)

Method:
In a spacious pot warm the oil and the butter in medium heat and sauté the leek and the spring onions for about 3 minutes until they start getting soft.

Add in the pot the potatoes, the celery and the carrots and sauté for another 3 minutes stirring with a wooden spoon. Then add the chicken stock and leave the vegetables to cook for about 25 minutes with the pot covered.

Take the pot off the heat and mash the vegetables along with their stock in a blender (probably you'll need to do this in batches).

Transfer the pot back on the cooker ring, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with the ginger and the nutmeg. Leave the soup to simmer for another 5 minutes in medium-low heat.

Serve immediately garnishing on each plate with a couple of generous dollops of yoghurt.