Fine Cooking Vichyssoise By James Peterson Recipes

CLASSIC VICHYSSOISE

Steps:

• In a large stock pot melt butter over low heat. Add leeks and onion, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.
• Add potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Add thyme, marjoram, bay leaf and stir well. Cover pot and continue to cook for 12 minutes.
• Add chicken stock and bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook, partially covered for 30 minutes.
• Puree soup in blender or food processor and cool.
• Prior to serving add cream. If you are serving this soup warm you need to reheat the soup slowly so that the cream does not change consistency.

VICHYSSOISE

Steps:

• Melt butter in a stockpot over medium heat. In a second stockpot over low heat, warm the chicken stock. Meanwhile, slice the white parts of the leeks in half lengthwise; then thinly slice. Trim and thinly slice celery. Add leeks and celery to the melted butter; gently sweat until translucent, 7-8 minutes, adding a pinch of salt halfway through. Make sure the vegetables do not take on any color.Meanwhile, slice potatoes lengthwise into 4 wedges, then roughly dice into 1-inch chunks. When the leeks and celery are translucent, add warmed stock, followed by the potatoes.
• Make a sachet: Lay a square of cheesecloth large enough to fit the herbs on a flat surface. Place thyme, parsley, bay leaf, and garlic in the middle; then wrap into a bundle and tie with butcher's twine. Submerge the sachet in the soup and simmer, uncovered, until potatoes are soft, 15-20 minutes.
• When a fork easily pierces a potato, the soup is ready to be blended. First, remove the sachet. Then use a ladle to remove 1½ cups of broth; set aside. Carefully add the rest of the soup to a blender and cover. Blend, beginning on low speed, then slowly increasing to high speed. When the soup is pale and completely puréed, turn off the blender and add crème fraîche. Cover and continue blending on high speed to a light, smooth texture. Test the thickness, then add some of the reserved broth as necessary to thin the soup, and blend again. Set aside the remaining broth.
• Strain the soup (optional): In a large bowl filled with ice, chill a second bowl large enough to hold the soup. Strain the soup through a chinois or fine-mesh strainer into the chilled bowl; use the back of a ladle to help push the soup through the strainer. The vichyssoise will have a syrupy texture when it's warm, but it will become thicker and more velvety as it chills in the bowl. Let cool for 1 hour.
• When the vichyssoise is chilled, strain more reserved broth into the soup as needed to thin to desired consistency; stir well to combine. Ladle into a bowl. Shape quenelles of crème fraîche (optional): Pass about a tablespoon of crème fraîche back and forth between two spoons, smoothing and shaping it until you have formed an egg-shaped dollop, or "quenelle." Garnish each bowl with a quenelle of crème fraîche and several chive batons before serving.

VICHYSSOISE

Steps:

• Melt the butter in the pressure cooker pot over medium-low heat. Add the leeks, celery leaves and 1 teaspoon of the salt and cook, stirring often, until soft, approximately 8 minutes. If the leeks start to brown during this process, reduce the heat.
• Drain the potato pieces and add to the pot along with the simmering chicken broth. Clamp on the cooker's lid, (according to the manufacturer's instructions) and bring to full pressure over high heat.
• Once pressure is attained (there will be a loud whistle) back the heat down to medium-low, just maintaining a hissing of steam for 8 minutes.
• Kill the heat and release the steam pressure by opening the dump valve or setting the cooker under cold, running water. When the lid can be removed, carefully transfer the mixture to a blender carafe. (If the mixture fills your carafe more than two-thirds full, work in two batches!)
• Top the carafe with the main lid but remove the center lid so that air can escape as it heats and expands. Cover the lid tightly with a tea towel and blend on low for 1 minute before slowly increasing the speed to smoothly puree the potatoes. (Although you want to increase the speed slowly, try not to puree the potatoes too long as they could become gummy.)
• Transfer the mixture back to the pot and whisk in the cream. Stir in the white pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning (I always need the rest of the salt). Chill thoroughly then serve garnished with a small spoonful of the roe and dill fronds.
• Tightly covered, the vichyssoise will keep a week in the refrigerator. The soup can also be frozen in ice-cube trays then kept in freezer bags for up to three months.

THE PRETENTIOUS VICHYSSOISE

Steps:

• 1. Clean your leeks carefully, the outer leaves especially get full of sand. (I usually chop them and then place in a colander and rinse). Chop roughly.
• 2. Melt butter in saute pan and place the leeks in, and cook on medium until tender, but not browned.
• 3. Transfer to a soup pot and add potatoes and the stock. Cook until potatoes are done about 30 minutes.
• 4. Carefully transfer to a blender or use an immersion blender to puree. Add cream, and adjust for seasoning.

VICHYSSOISE

Steps:

• Gently sweat the chopped leeks and the chopped onion in butter or margarine until soft, about 8 minutes. Do NOT let them brown.
• Add potatoes and stock to the saucepan. Salt and pepper to taste; do not overdo them! Bring to the boil, and simmer very gently for 30 minutes.
• Puree in a blender or food processor until very smooth. Cool. Gently stir in the cream before serving.

ANTHONY BOURDAIN'S LES HALLES VICHYSSOISE

Steps:

• I a large, heavy bottom pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. Once butter is melted, add the leeks and sweat for 5 minutes, making sure they do not take on any color.
• Add potatoes and cook for a minute or two, stirring a few times.
• Stir in the chicken broth and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to a simmer. Cook on low heat, gently simmering for 35 minutes, or until the leeks and potatoes are very soft. Allow to cool for a few minutes.
• Slowly, and in SMALL batches, puree the soup at a high speed in the blender. Do this bit by bit, never filling the blender too high. Make sure the benders lid is on, and lean on the top when you turn on. If not the burn you will get is awful, and a most frequent accident in even professional kitchens.
• Return soup to the cooking pot and whisk in cream and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper. Return to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook 5 minutes. If you want to thin soup out, add more broth, if needed.
• Transfer soup to the mixing bowl an chill over the ice bath, stirring occasionally. When soup is at Room temperature, and only at room temperature, cover in plastic wrap and put into the refrigerator to cool.
• Check seasoning, sprinkle with chives and serve in chilled bowls.
• This soup DOES get better over time. Keep covered with plastic, not foil in the refrigerator, or it will pick up other tastes.

VICHYSSOISE (POTATO & LEEK SOUP)

Steps:

• Peel and thinly slice the potatoes. Remove the tops from the leek and finely chop the white bulbs only.
• Heat the butter in a large saucepan. Add the potatoes and leek and cook gently, without browning. Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Once the vegetables are tender(about 30 mins) puree them in 2 batches in a blender. Stir in the cream and pureed veggies into a bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and cool the mixture in the refrigerator. If soup is too thick, prior to serving, stir in a bit of water to thin it out.
• Serve the mixture in chilled dishes and garnish with the chives.

VICHYSSOISE (LEEK AND POTATO SOUP)

Steps:

• saute onions and leeks in butter for a few minutes until tender.
• add thinly sliced potatoes and stock.
• simmer till potatoes are cooked,.
• remove from heat.
• add cream
• blend or mash if you like.
• add mace salt and white pepper
• serve topped with the optional chives or water cress.
• OR chill in freezer or fridge
• add cucumber and chives and serve.