Seasonal Recipe of the Week
Hot soup and a cold winter day go together like nothing else. The smell of simmering onions in butter is like perfume to me. It's like culinary foreplay, if you will! This is a recipe from the queen herself, Julia Child, for the classic potato leek soup. Here’s an old joke my father told me a hundred times... “How do you make vichyssoise? First, you take a leek.”
Ingredients
3-4 cups of diced peeled potatoes (1 lb.)
3 cups thinly sliced leeks, including the tender greens
2 quarts water
1 Tablespoon salt
6 tablespoons heavy cream or 3 tablespoons softened butter
3 tablespoons minced chives or parsley
Procedure
Simmer vegetables, salt, and water together, partially covered for 40-50 minutes in a 3-4 quart saucepan. Mash the vegetables into the soup with a fork or pass through a food mill. Julia does not like the texture of soup pureed in a blender, your call. Adjust salt and pepper. You can stop at this point. When ready to serve, bring soup back to simmering. Then off the heat, stir in the cream or butter and top with chopped chives or parsley. It does not get much better than that! Makes 2 quarts of soup for 6-8 servings.
