Art of French Cooking

After reading the book Julie and Julia (and missing the movie because of lazy friends), I became a huge fan of French cooking. The liberal use of butter and cream fraiche along with the mouth-watering and often unpronounceable names of various sauces and stews, made me want to try them out myself. I could have very well gone to a French restaurant myself and ordered my heart's content of lovely French food. But I was skeptical of eating in any restaurant because one it might not be authentic and two it is going to cost a lot. Now I wanted to start this quest of making French food with something uncomplicated but with wonderful flavors. I choose potage parmentier simply because it was easy on my wallet and it because I simply love soups.

Now if you will ask my friends, they will tell you how much I love to eat and look at delicious food. Whenever I am stressed out I go to the supermarket and just look at the fresh fruits and vegetables. Something about the bright green leaves of coriander and the vivid yellow of the bell pepper, lulls me into thinking that the world is not a bad place after all. Many people do not understand why I love looking at vegetables and fruits. What's so great about them anyway? But it is either a stroll through the vegetable section or a trip to the shoe market to drown my sorrows, going to the vegetable market is a lot cheaper option and more satisfying too. Now to come back to the potato and leek soup project.

Potage Parmentier or Vichyssoise is a fancy name for potato and leek soup. Potato and leek soup sounds so boring and ordinary but the moment you start saying the word vichyssoise or potage parmentier for that matter it just rolls down your mouth and makes you think that you are going to make something divine. Potato and leek soup is a very simple soup that requires just four ingredients. It is a kind of soup even the most inexperienced cook can't screw up. The best thing about this wonderfully satisfying potato and leek soup is that you can have it piping hot or chilled.

Making the soup is simplicity itself and all that you need are a couple of russet potatoes, leeks, salt and pepper. For garnishing or making the soup more rich, you can add a dollop of fresh cream. First, you need to peel half a kilo of potato and dice them into small cubes. Next clean the leeks and chop the white portion into tiny pieces and place both leeks and potatoes into a big saucepan with plenty of water. Boil them for 20 to 25 minutes until the vegetables are tender and almost mushy. Now you need to puree the softened vegetables by running through a food mill. I don't have a food mill, so decided to puree the vegetables with the help of an immersion blender. But unfortunately after hunting for ten minutes, I could not find the immersion blender (but did find the package it came in). So time for some improvisation. I pureed the vegetables in three batches in my food processor until it was smooth. Then I added salt, pepper and a bit of butter and cream and voila! Potato soup was ready.

I tried the soup, skeptical at first because there was no spices in it except the black pepper (and that does not count). But to my surprise the soup was just perfect. It was everything a soup should be. It was creamy, smooth, melted in the mouth and above all very very satisfying. Who could have thought that something so delicious could be made with the humble potato. So after the success of the potage parmentier, I have decide to go ahead with the boef bourguingnon, which is a kind of beef stew. But of course I have to make a lamb bourguingnon because I don't eat beef. Well let's see how that turns out.