It’s cold! Maybe it’s warm where you are. But, here, it’s getting cold enough that frosting occurs overnight. I think we can all agree it’s soup season. Well, maybe it is hot where you are. So, what if I told you we could eat the very same soup, either on a hot or cold day, and would both feel satisfied after eating a climate-specific meal? Room temperature soup?! No! The beauty of vichyssoise (vishy-swawz) is that it can be served either hot or cold. In fact, we sampled this soup hot (just after cooking) and then later for dinner (cold) on an unseasonably warm day last week. Even though it has a fancy name, it’s simply potato and leek soup and it is super tasty. So make a bowl tonight to celebrate the day of this chameleon-like soup!
Vichyssoise
from America’s Test Kitchen, Cook’s Illustrated
If you don’t have/want to buy ground white pepper, simply wrap 10 black peppercorns in small square of cheesecloth and secure it with butcher string.
2 lbs leeks (white & light green part only, reserve the dark green for stock making)
2 tbsp butter
Onion, finely diced
2.5 cups whole milk
2 cups chicken stock
½ lb red potatoes, peeled and diced ½-inch
2 tbsp minced fresh chives
White pepper
Halve the trimmed leeks lengthwise and run them under water to wash away the dirt. Then slice ¼-inch thick.
Melt the butter in a dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the leeks, onion and 1.5 tsp salt. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Do not brown the veggies!
Add in the milk, stock and potatoes, along with a pinch of white pepper (or the bundle of peppercorns) and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to medium-low. Continue to lightly simmer the pot contents for about 20 minutes, then turn the heat off and let sit for an additional 10 minutes.
If you used the satchel of peppercorns, remove before transferring to a blender and process until smooth, about 1 minute. If you don’t have a large Vitamix, do this in batches. Otherwise, you can transfer everything at once to the Vitamix, but remove the clear plastic top, from the rubber gasket cover, and cover the hole with a folded kitchen towel, holding it down with your palm. Right after you feel the upward pressure (from the motor blending) peel up a section of the towel to allow excess pressure and steam to escape the blender.
Once the mixture is blended, pour through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. At this point you can serve it warm chill in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Prior to serving, taste for any seasoning needs and garnish with the chives.
______________________________ Copyright 2022, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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