Jan

23

Potage Parmentier

Filed Under food, recipes 

I tried a new recipe today from Julia Child’s book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I kind of got on this kick to attempt some of her recipes after watching the movie Julie & Julia. The first recipe I attempted was Boeuf à la Bourguignonne for dinner on Christmas Day, mainly because that’s the one that is mentioned quite a bit in the movie. I am told that it came out quite well. (I didn’t have any of it because I’m vegetarian, so the whole dish was placed on the faith that Julia Child’s recipe was accurate. I shan’t doubt her again!)

Today’s recipe was Potage Parmentier (Leek or Onion and Potato Soup). According to Julia, this simple dish is a versatile base for other kinds of soup, and she gives a list of other ingredients that can be added to it for different flavors. I just went for the basic soup.

Step 1:

  • A 3- to 4-quart saucepan or pressure cooker
  • 3 to 4 cups or 1 lb. peeled potatoes, sliced or diced
  • 3 cups or 1 lb. thinly sliced leeks, including the tender green; or yellow onions
  • 2 quarts water
  • 1 Tbsp salt

Either simmer the vegetables, water, and salt together, partially covered, for 40 to 50 minutes until the vegetables are tender; or cook under 15 pounds pressure for 5 minutes, release pressure, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.

In my mind, simmer means to cook it on low heat. That’s what I normally do when the recipe indicates a “simmer”. So I tried it. 50 minutes later, the vegetables were not tender. Heck, the water was barely tepid. I think there is a step that is missing here. It probably should say to “bring it to a boil and reduce the temperature to simmer.” The trick to this method is that you’ll need to keep your eye on the vegetables as they will cook in less than than the 40 to 50 minutes Julia indicates.

Step 2:

Mash the vegetables in the soup with a fork or pass the soup through a food mill. Correct seasoning.

(*) Set aside uncovered until just before serving, then reheat to the simmer.

I don’t own a food mill and I wasn’t about to mash it by hand, so I pureed the whole thing in my food processor. It probably came out a bit finer than Julia was intending.

Step 3:

  • 4 to 6 Tbsp whipping cream or 2 to 3 Tbsp softened butter
  • 2 to 3 Tbsp minced parsley or chives

    Off heat and just before serving, stir in the cream or butter by spoonfuls. Pour into a tureen and soup cups and decorate with the herbs.

The instructions are once again a little vague here. Do you just put spoonfuls of cream or butter and just let it sit on top, or do you mix it in the soup? I mixed it in because dollops of butter on top just didn’t look as good. (In this version, I used butter and chives.)

The result:

Probably if I had used cream, the end product would have had more of a milky color to it. However, the recipe is pretty easy to follow and relatively quick to make, as long as you bring it to a boil then turn it down to simmer. It will be interesting to try this as a base for other soups—something other than just plain old broth. All-in-all, I think it was a success. That’s two for Julia!

Comments

Leave a Reply