Vichyssoise

Merry Christmas!  I got to try out my new stick blender today.  “Food Network” brand, feels pretty wimpy, but it definitely got the job done.  This potato and leek soup came out smooth and tasty. A classic vichyssoise has only leeks and potatoes, no fennel or bacon.  But why not add fennel and bacon? The stick blender makes it easy to puree the soup, which is very necessary for texture.  This would not be the same as a chunky homestyle soup.  I served it warm for dinner with a half-ounce of blue cheese melted in, but the classic presentation is cold as an appetiser.  I’ll have to try that tomorrow with some of the leftovers.

Calorie Estimate: 1400

Ingredients

• 1 lb leeks, sliced 1/4 inch rounds, white and green
• 1 lb yukon gold potatoes (or other waxy potato), coarse dice
• 1 fennel bulb, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, mashed
• 1 T butter
• 1 oz bacon/prosciutto/pancetta, diced
• 4-6 cups water (optional, and not necessary: chicken stock)
• salt (a few t)
• pepper (about 1-2 t)
• parsley or chervil (1-2 t dried, 2 T + garnish fresh)
• 1 cup heavy cream (could use less, could use half-and-half)
• optional, but awesome: 1/2 oz blue cheese per bowl

Alternate Version (1000 Calories)

• minus cream (I have my reasons!)
• plus parsnip
• 6 oz of bacon

Preparation

1. Over medium high heat, start to brown the butter and render the pork.
2. Add the leeks, garlic, and fennel, and sweat but don’t brown for a few minutes.
3. Add the potatoes and the water (enough to just cover completely) and bring to a boil, then turn to a simmer.  At a teaspoon or so of salt at this point and some black pepper.  Cook for about 30 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.
4. Take the soup off the heat and let it cool for a minute or two.  Add the cream and parsley.  Take the stick blender and blend until somewhat smooth.
5. At this point, adjust the seasoning.  I needed quite a bit of salt and some more pepper to make it pop, but that’s just me.  As you add seasoning, blend it a bit more, and keep tasting until it’s right.
6. If you’re serving it warm, an awesome tip I picked up from a comment in Mark Bittman’s blog Bitten is to place a small piece of blue cheese at the bottom the bowl.  It’ll rapidly melt, so stir it into the soup before you eat.  This adds a really nice touch of complexity that would otherwise be missing and really made the soup feel special.

Pot roast

Went to Cascioppo for some smoked salmon and saw some of the most beautiful roasts I’ve ever seen in my life: grass-fed, nice marbling, bright red, dry.  All of a sudden, pot roast seemed like a great idea.  The nice roast also cooked to a perfect texture quicker than expected (only 3 hours, whereas supermarket beef will usually take longer).

Here’s a simple and effective one pot dish (well, almost, gravy is easier to make in a second saucepan).  I make this on the stove top, only because I don’t have an over-ready enameled cast iron dutch oven, and I probably won’t have one until after I move from Seattle because who wants to transport a 20-pound pot?

Calorie estimate: 4000

Ingredients

• 1/2 T olive oil
• 2.5 – 3 lb roast
• 1-2 cups red wine (Cabernet, Merlot, more tannic Pinot Noir, Syrah)
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 very large onion, cut into wedges
• 1 fennel bulb, cut into wedges
• 1 carrot, sliced into rounds
• 1 stalk celery, sliced
• 1 large parsnip, peeled and coarsely cubed
• 1.25 lbs red potatoes, quartered
• salt and pepper
• cornstarch or flour
• dash of nutmeg
• pinch of fennel seeds
• maybe 1 T butter

Preparation

1. Salt and pepper the roast.  One the stove top, in your gorgeous enameled dutch oven (or your roommate’s large non-stick soup pot), brown the roast on all sides over high heat in a splash of oil.  4-5 minutes per surface, including the sides.  For the sides, you may have to hold it there with tongs.
2. While browning, prep the vegetables.
3. After the browning, bring the heat down to low and add the wine and beef broth.  You want enough liquid to go up the side of the roast a little less than half way.
4. Add in the onion, fennel, carrots, and celery.  Cover and simmer for 1.5 hours.  Put the aromatics in now to infuse the meat and the broth, but the parsnips and potatoes should wait so they still have texture when everything is done.
5. Flip the roast.  You’ll probably notice there’s a lot more liquid now from the vegetables.  Add in the parsnips and potatoes, trying to get them into the liquid.  If you’ve got too much liquid (the roast is covered completely), leave the lid cracked.  Simmer gently for another 30 minutes to 1 hour.  Check to make sure the roast isn’t getting overcooked–there is such a thing as too tender.
6. When the meat and potatoes are just about done, drain off most of the excess liquid with a ladle and place it in a sauce pot.  Turn the heat off on the roast, cover lightly with vegetables, put the lid on, and let it rest.  A little of the liquid should remain in the pot so that the meat doesn’t start to dry out.
7. Boil down the liquid in the sauce pot until you have less than 2 cups left.  Adjust the seasoning if required.  A nice touch is a dash (1/4 t ish) of nutmeg and maybe a little more fennel flavor from some fennel seeds,  The subtle touch of nutmeg goes well with the fennel and parsnips.
8. If the roast is fatty, try to skim off the excess from the reduction.  If it is lean, as mine was, add up to 1 T of butter to give the sauce a little more body.
9. Thicken the gravy with corn starch (follow the directions on the corn starch box).  1 T of cornstarch left the gravy a little thin, but I like to err on the side of too thin instead of too starchy and slimy feeling.
10. Plate a bit of the roast with the veggies, pour the gravy on and enjoy.

Perhaps Escoffier might smile, at least a little, at this humble amateur.