Julia Child’s Vichyssoise

It’s a bit shameful that I didn’t get around to making this – the easiest of all soups – until Saturday of this week, when I received the recipe on Monday. It literally took me 5 minutes to throw together, about 20 minutes of cooking (I chopped the potatoes and leeks very very small to speed up the cooking time) and then chill time of about an hour – very very little “hands on” time at all.  It’s actually a testament to how busy I have been this week that I have not been able to squeeze in time to make this but don’t let that put you off – it really is so easy and perfect for a warm summer’s day. Or you can heat it up if the weather turns cold on you all of a sudden (as our Toronto weather has been wont to do of late!).  And as Julia says “An excellent lunch or light supper need be no more than a good soup, a salad, cheese and fruit.”  I’d say that sounds like the perfect summer supper to me!

Yield: 6-8

Vichyssoise

Print

Cold leek and potato soup. Excerpted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. Copyright © 1961 by Alfred A. Knopf. Reprinted with permission from the publisher Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 cups peeled, sliced potatoes (I left the skin on)
• 3 cups sliced white of leek
• 1 1/2 quarts white stock, chicken stock, or canned chicken broth
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 to 1 cup whipping cream (I used one tablespoon of 0% Greek yogurt for each shot glass and 3 tablespoons per soup bowl)
• Salt and white pepper
• Chilled soup cups (I used shot glasses and regular soup bowls)
• 2-3 tablespoons minced chives

Instructions

1. Simmer the vegetables in the stock or broth.
2. Puree the soup either in an electric blender, or through a food mill (I used my immersion blender) and then through a fine sieve.
3. Stir in the cream. Season to taste, over salting very slightly as salt loses flavour in a cold dish. Chill.
4. Serve in chilled soup cups and decorate with minced chives.

did you make this recipe?

please leave a comment or review on the blog or share a photo and tag me on Instagram @eatlivtravwrite !

 

This is a great recipe – so so easy and so very tasty.   I chose to leave the skins on the potatoes because I actually like the flecks of colour in the soup.  I also subbed Greek yogurt for the cream in the shot glasses and only added it when serving because I wanted to be able to serve it as a creamy cool summer soup as well as a warm soup if the weather got cooler. I liked this variation with the Greek yogurt and will use this idea again. Of course, with the cream it’s wonderfully decadent and amazingly delicious too 😉

 

* Culinary icon Julia Child would have turned 100 years old on August 15th of this year. To honor her, the folks at YC Media and Random House/  Alfred A. Knopf are launching the JC100:  an international campaign involving restaurants, chefs, bookstores, and bloggers, all celebrating Julia and her legacy. Their goal is to raise one million voices in tribute to Julia, and I am honoured to participate!

 

Follow the JC 100 on:

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