Makes about 1 1/2 Liters of soup. Took about one hour or so to make.
Ingrediants
3 Leeks
2 Baking Potatoes
1 Small Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
1 tsp Pepper Corns
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1-2 Bay Leaf(s)
Thyme (small bunch)
26 oz Chicken Stock
1/4 cup Heavy Cream
3 tbsp Butter
Motivation
I wanted to make a chilled summer soup. I remember having an amazing vichyssoise during a wine and food tasting dinner at the late Chef’s Table restaurant. It was hot outside and the soup was both surprisingly rich and refreshing. When I looked for recipes I didn’t see many that included onions or garlic, but I like those two ingredients and I don’t really see how they can be out of place in this soup so I decided to go ahead and add them. As this soup simmers it smells like the antidote for a chilly Autumn afternoon.
Mise en Place
Trim the leeks so only the white bottoms and some of the more tender light green stem section is left. Halve each leek. You might want to rinse off the individual layers if they seem like sand or dirt is in between the layers (stupid nature). Then thinly slice the leeks. Halve and slice the onions in a similar manner. Slice garlic. Peel potatoes then cut into smallish cubes so they will cook faster.
Method
Over mediumn heat, melt butter in the bottom of a pan large enough to hold all the ingredients (I used a small stockpot). Add sliced leeks and toss in the butter. Add onions and garlic. Stir contents occasionally over the next ~5 minutes or so until everything is translucent.
Add potatoes and spices (peppercorns, salt, thyme, bay leafs) to the pot. I wrapped some butcher’s twine around the thyme so it would be easy to fish out the sticks later (everything else will get pulverized by the blender during the puree step). Add chicken stock and increase heat to bring to simmer. Once simmering, reduce heat and let cook until the potatoes are ready to fall apart (30 minutes or so).
Remove thyme and bay leafs then transfer soup to blender to puree. I was able to get the entire batch into the blender in one go. You might want to try two batches if you don’t trust your blender-fu. Alternatively, you can probably use an immersion blender and puree in the pot. I ended up blending it until the peppercorn pieces got acceptably small and the soup looked homogeneous and velvety.
Finish soup by folding in 1/4 of heavy cream. I tasted the soup before adding heavy cream and I’m not entirely sure the soup actually needs the heavy cream. It tasted pretty awesome. If it was chilly outside I’d probably just serve the soup as is. Eventually, I decided to add the cream with the expectations that it might sweeten up the soup slightly and add a certain something once the soup was chilled. To help chill the soup I poured the soup into a mixing bowl nested in a larger mixing bowl filled with ice water.
Ingrediants
3 Leeks
2 Baking Potatoes
1 Small Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
1 tsp Pepper Corns
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1-2 Bay Leaf(s)
Thyme (small bunch)
26 oz Chicken Stock
1/4 cup Heavy Cream
3 tbsp Butter
Motivation
I wanted to make a chilled summer soup. I remember having an amazing vichyssoise during a wine and food tasting dinner at the late Chef’s Table restaurant. It was hot outside and the soup was both surprisingly rich and refreshing. When I looked for recipes I didn’t see many that included onions or garlic, but I like those two ingredients and I don’t really see how they can be out of place in this soup so I decided to go ahead and add them. As this soup simmers it smells like the antidote for a chilly Autumn afternoon.
Mise en Place
Trim the leeks so only the white bottoms and some of the more tender light green stem section is left. Halve each leek. You might want to rinse off the individual layers if they seem like sand or dirt is in between the layers (stupid nature). Then thinly slice the leeks. Halve and slice the onions in a similar manner. Slice garlic. Peel potatoes then cut into smallish cubes so they will cook faster.
Method
Over mediumn heat, melt butter in the bottom of a pan large enough to hold all the ingredients (I used a small stockpot). Add sliced leeks and toss in the butter. Add onions and garlic. Stir contents occasionally over the next ~5 minutes or so until everything is translucent.
Add potatoes and spices (peppercorns, salt, thyme, bay leafs) to the pot. I wrapped some butcher’s twine around the thyme so it would be easy to fish out the sticks later (everything else will get pulverized by the blender during the puree step). Add chicken stock and increase heat to bring to simmer. Once simmering, reduce heat and let cook until the potatoes are ready to fall apart (30 minutes or so).
Remove thyme and bay leafs then transfer soup to blender to puree. I was able to get the entire batch into the blender in one go. You might want to try two batches if you don’t trust your blender-fu. Alternatively, you can probably use an immersion blender and puree in the pot. I ended up blending it until the peppercorn pieces got acceptably small and the soup looked homogeneous and velvety.
Finish soup by folding in 1/4 of heavy cream. I tasted the soup before adding heavy cream and I’m not entirely sure the soup actually needs the heavy cream. It tasted pretty awesome. If it was chilly outside I’d probably just serve the soup as is. Eventually, I decided to add the cream with the expectations that it might sweeten up the soup slightly and add a certain something once the soup was chilled. To help chill the soup I poured the soup into a mixing bowl nested in a larger mixing bowl filled with ice water.
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