I have no idea what "Vichyssoise" really means in French (remember my rule, I don't look things up on Google) but it certainly sounds much more appetizing and fancy than "Cold Leek and Potato Soup." I'm certainly glad that I made Vichyssoise because it was downright tasty! I really went out on a limb this time and made it to serve to about two dozen family members and friends who joined us for dinner on Sunday following my granddaughter's blessing at church. They ate it, they said it was tasty, and no one made a beeline to the restroom or keeled over on the floor.
Julia's teaching me that the basic recipe for leek and potato soup is the base for several different soups with this being the second one I've prepared (the first basic one I made previously, Potage Parmentier, and wrote about in an earlier post). Other than being served as a chilled soup, the biggest difference between this Vichyssoise and the previous Potage Parmentier is that chicken broth was used instead of water and cream was added at the end. An interesting side note: according to Julia, "this is an American invention based on the leek and potato soup" found in her master recipe. Hmmmmm, which American? Is there a patent? Did he/she speak French?
Amazingly, I'd planned on having this prepared in about an hour -- necessary because we had to leave to drive to Philadelphia to watch the Phillies beat up on the Marlins. In spite of a solid deadline I demonstrated nerves of steel and proceeded with my plan right on time. First thing I did was pour (I almost said "dump" but that doesn't sound very French chef like) the chicken broth into the large pot.
Let's pause and discuss broth for a moment. Julia has a section of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" describing the best ways to make beef, chicken, and vegetable broth (or "stock") from scratch. Sorry gang, I can barely finish these recipes on the same day I'm planning on serving them as it is. Can you imagine what it would be like if I spent hours cutting up and boiling bones, gristle, and other trimmings from formerly living creatures and plants? Ain't gonna happen. Besides, I prefer to think of these nice cartons of broth as being filled using a beef/chicken/plant juice machine. You know, kind of like an orange juicer? The cow pulls up to the machine, the machine gives it a little squeeze and beef juice comes from. Sometimes it is better to be a bit delusional...
Back to the soup. I'm really enjoying the slicing and dicing that comes along with preparing these dishes, especially when it is straightforward and simple like this one was. Peel and wash the potatoes and then dice them and toss, errrrrr, gently place them in the broth. The leeks were sliced into thin slices and mostly the white sections were used to keep this a light colored soup. A little salt and pepper were added and everything was simmered for about 40-50 minutes -- a pretty nice kitchen air freshener.
Once everything was nice and tender, Julia gave me the choice of using a food mill or a blender to turn everything into a uniform and creamy consistency. Hmmmmmmm, I could use a hand operated grinder thingy with boiling hot liquid (which I'd have to borrow or purchase) or I could use a power tool? Not even a hard choice -- I went with the electric immersion blender. As my hero, Tim "The Toolman" Taylor would say -- arrr arrrr arrr arrr! In mere minutes the potatoes and leeks were no longer individuals floating around in the pot, they'd all become happy little companions. Once the blending was done I added a couple cups of cream (what, no butter???) and stirred it together and voila, it was done!
As any good chef would do, I tasted it while it was still hot and that was really good too. Julia warned that a little extra salt was needed because it loses some savor in a cold dish. Everything then went into the fridge to chill and it was done. Best part was knowing that it would be ready on time because I made it the day prior to when we were serving it. One thing to note - Julia said I was to use white pepper so that there wouldn't be little black specks in the soup. Sorry Julia, we've actually got two cans of ground black pepper and a bottle of black peppercorns. Elizabeth let me use her immersion blender, I wasn't going to push my luck by asking to buy white pepper. We'll just close our eyes or eat it in the dark if it bothers us.
Having received no complaints and a couple of compliments, more of these soups will follow. Variations to watch for are adding water cress (Potage au Cresson), onions instead of leeks, tomatoes, beans, peas, lentils, caulflower, cucumbers (??), broccoli, Lima beans, string beans, okra (must be from the south of France), zucchini, lettuce, spinach, sorrel, cabbage, or (get this) -- leftovers of any of those vegetables. Wow -- sounds like we'll be eating a lot of soup this winter. Also sounds like I need to start growing leeks and potatoes in our garden.
Warning -- if you're planning on stopping by for dinner in the future, you'd better make a request for which version of Potage you want to try. Cucumbers anyone?
Bon Appetit!
Delicious.