Finally, it's starting to cool down and it actually makes sense to make soups.
It is still pretty hot in Maryland and as much as I love fall, I'm not in any rush to see it, but I have to say that I'm pretty excited about making this particular soup again.
Day thirty three's menu was:
LA POTAGE CRECY
Potato Carrot Soup
LE FILET DE TILAPIA AUX AMANDES
Tilapia with Almonds (not Amanda)
LA RATATOUILLE NICOISE
LE GATEAU AU CHOCOLAT
The best lava cake I've ever had
Maybe someday I'll bless you guys with this phenomenal lava cake recipe, but for now I told myself I'd write a post about soups. Don't click out, it's good stuff - I promise!
There are two different kinds of the hot, liquid first courses: soups vs. potages.
Soups are a little less conservative. You can usually find an assortment of vegetables and other ingredients lying around your kitchen to make a soup. They are not always pureed, but can be, and usually do not have a textbook recipe to follow. You can start soups with any base that you'd like: onions, potatoes, etc.
Potages are more conservative. They have very classic recipe elements and garnishes. The recipes are very rarely toyed with. The main difference is that potages start with leeks. Most potages are pureed.
The French love a good potage. We've made a bunch of them but I think today's was my favorite.
After many attempts, I think I've learned how to master a good potage. The important things to remember are:
- Aim for an equal balance of all your listed ingredients
- Therefore, more leeks is probably better
The steps to making a great potage are:
- Sweat the leeks with a little bit of whole butter. Your goal here is to not let the leeks take any color. Cook them on low heat to drive out the moisture.
- Add your liquid (usually chicken stock) and a bouquet garnit (parsley, bay leaf, thyme and peppercorns). It's easiest to add them in a cheesecloth so you don't have to fish each piece out individually.
- Add the other vegetables, in this case carrots, and enough stock to submerge the pieces. In a small pot, I usually do not go about 3/4 of the way full.
- Let the vegetables cook until tender. Add any additional flavorings, but be discrete. In this soup, we added two small slices of ginger.
- Puree the soup. Always puree longer than you think.
- Strain the soup, if needed.
- Add cream and season.
- Serve immediately or hold and reheat as necessary.
It was refreshing and pretty to look at. I'll definitely be making this again soon.
And definitely this, too...
