Leek and potato soup with lemon oil-infused croutons

The Indian summer didn't last long, did it? This week as I get out of bed early in the morning, I feel like putting the heating on. And the evenings are much cooler as well.
Time for hot comfort foods like pies and soups. Yesterday I cooked a pot of leek and potato soup, it was so tasty, that my husband asked for a second helping (either that or he was very hungry).

Leek and potato soup with lemon infused oil croutons
Ingredients:
500g leeks
3tbsp lemon infused olive oil + more for croutons
25g butter
1tsp dried mixed herbs
2 medium potatoes
250ml semi-skimmed milk
4 chunky slices of bread, cubed
dried herbs
sea salt

Slice the leeks into discs and fry in the frying pan with the olive oil and butter, on low, just sweating them for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the mixed herbs.
Peel and slice potatoes. In a big pan put together potatoes and leeks, add semi-skimmed milk and water, so that all the vegetables are covered with liquid. Season well and cook on low for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on your soup, add more water if needed.
Once the potatoes are cooked, blitz the soup with a hand blender until you get a creamy consistency.
Serve with croutons, a dash of single cream and/or fresh parsley.

I used Nudo olive oil stone ground with real lemons in this recipe, as I wanted to add a bit of zingy flavours to this timeless classic. It's a beautiful oil, made with Sicilian lemons. Later olives with subtler flavour are used for this infused oil. It is delicious, with a lovely aroma and taste of lemons.

I also used it for making the croutons for the soup.
Cut the old chunky bread into thick slices and then cube. Place on a tray, drizzle the olive oil over them generously and sprinkle mixed herbs and sea salt. Bake for 10+ minutes at 180C until golden.
We didn't eat all the croutons with soup, as there were plenty of them, but the next day they were all gone, as we kept snacking on them.

Disclosure: I received a selection of Nudo oils for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are mine.