
Doesn’t look much does it but in my opinion this is one of the best of all soups. This is in fact vichyssoise though we ate a serving hot.
I bought a couple of leeks with the intention of making a leek and potato soup for Friday, one of our ‘meatless days’. Although no recipe is necessary – there could hardly be a simpler soup to make – I had intended to follow (roughly) Delia Smith’s recipe, my go-to cook for unpretentious but superb food of all kinds. For one reason and another I didn’t make the soup on Friday so went for an authentic vichyssoise and as far as I am concerned that means a recipe from a Frenchman or, as it turned out, from a Frenchwoman.
The only major difference between the soup and the vichyssoise is that the first is with a vegetable stock, generally served hot, the second with chicken stock and served cold. I made four generous servings. We had a small serving hot, the rest we’ll have later cold, ie vichyssoise (it will keep fine in the freezer).
Sadly Stéphane seems to have stopped posting on his blog, ‘My French Heaven‘, his most recent post being in June last year where he gave his grandmother’s recipe for vichyssoise, which is good enough for me. I say sadly because this was one of the best food blogs (and much more) around. Nevertheless, although posts seem to have stopped all the old ones seem still to be there. I love his ‘About’ – that alone is worth a read, but here’s his (or grandma’s) vichyssoise with the story behind it.
https://myfrenchheaven.com/2017/06/22/a-special-vichyssoise-for-my-muses/
This is truly delicious.
If you want the vegetarian version I’d recommend Delia Smith’s recipe (don’t be misled by the added complication from ‘celebrities’ like Jamie Oliver – rubbish). Here’s Delia’s:
https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/collections/root-vegetables/leek-onion-and-potato-soup
It’s worth adding that leeks are a wonderful, often overlooked vegetable. This was brought home to me just a couple of days ago when I made a mushroom omelette following a recipe from Latvia which added some leek. I’d never have thought of using them in a mushroom omelette but I’m sure that it was this ingredient which lifted this omelette from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Here’s the recipe:
https://latvianmom.com/2018/02/01/mushroom-omelette/
February 18, 2018 at 6:46 pm
Yes I like leek and potatoe soup, leeks are a good alternative to onion, they don’t make you cry cutting them 😀
February 10, 2018 at 4:27 pm
I am constantly bugging Stephane about posting again. He says he’s too busy!!!
February 5, 2018 at 3:41 pm
I dont think I could do a meat free day! But this does sound very nice and I am always happy to snack on soup – slow roasted beef casserole for my tea tonight!
February 4, 2018 at 5:36 pm
A soup I was happy to introduce to Poland (ok, I’m sure it got here before) But it is now a firm favourite with Gosia family.
We had a good crop of leaks last year and they stay in the ground until you need them, that is until your hungry goats find them!
February 5, 2018 at 7:27 am
… but I guess leek-fed goats would make a good curry! Great to hear from you. Are we going to see a post with the newest member of the clan soon?
February 5, 2018 at 7:30 am
Odd to find your comment now. We were in Skipton yesterday and I was thinking about you; managed to resist Bizzie Lissie’s but only because we’d had a large breakfast!
February 5, 2018 at 12:32 pm
I keep meaning to, its more about finding the time and this is meant to be the quiet time of year 🙂 I’ll report of the curry later in the year.