Posted in not-writing, Recipes, tagged food on September 25, 2009|
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At the cooking school Tuesday night, Scott showed us how to make vichyssoise, veal cordon bleu, and a peach tart. I was there for the vichyssoise, which I’ve loved since the first time I had it years ago at Scott’s restaurant (Bullfinch’s in Sudbury MA, just down the road from us). Vichyssoise, for those of you who’ve never had it, is a creamy cold potato-and-leek soup. I assumed that it had loads of butter and rich cream sauce to give it that rich taste, but it turns out I’m wrong. It’s got a bit of cream in it, but mainly it’s potatoes, and leeks.
One largish Idaho potato and one big leek make enough soup for two or three servings.
Peel the potato (unless you want flecks of brown in your soup) and dice it. Put the diced potato in a saucepan, cover with vegetable or chicken stock, and cook while you wash and dice the leek.
Add the diced leek to the pot and let everything cook until tender. Scott recommended not adding salt and pepper until just before serving, because the seasonings in the stock are often enough.
Drain the potatoes and leeks, reserving the liquid. Cool slightly before dumping into a blender. Add some of the cooking liquid. Puree, adding more liquid as necessary. Keep whipping long after it’s smooth — this is the trick to making it really creamy. Scott added about 1/3 cup of sweet cream to make it a little richer; you could also use milk, skim milk, soy milk (unflavored), etc. I was thinking a dollop of nonfat plain yogurt might work well.
Vichyssoise is traditionally served cold, but it’s good hot as well.
You can dice and cook cauliflower or celeriac with the potatoes and leeks for a slightly different taste. Add herbs or spices — I’m thinking curry powder might be a nice variation? I’m also thinking about trying it as a low-fat base for chowder.
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