French potato soup (potage parmentier)

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 pounds Potatoes; peeled and cut up
2 Leeks; peeled down to the \"good\" and well-washed and cut thinly
2 mediums To large onions; peeled and sliced thinly
1 large Carrot; washed and well scraped, and sliced thinly
1 Stalk of celery; washed and sliced thinly
1 Sprig of parsley; washed and chopped
2½ cup Water
1 tablespoon Salt
1 teaspoon Ground black pepper
¼ cup Butter (I use 1/2 !) (up to 1/2)
½ cup Heavy cream
Chopped Chives

Directions

I rarely post a recipe that is not my own, but this one comes from an aged Women's Day Encyclopædia of Cookery. It will "stick to your ribs" and dispel the cold of winter, even in frigid New York! (Doubtless you know that Parmentier was the French agronomist who popularized the potato in France.)

Now, one more time, when I say potatoes, I mean real potatoes such as the Maine kennebec or the Irish cobbler, and not those russet things.

The following will feed six. Double it if you feed a "tribe." Moreover, you will note that this is not for you if you are on a low fat diet! *grin* In a large sauce pan, add the water and all of the vegetables except the chives. Cover and cook over low heat for about two hours. Then add the salt and pepper. Drain the vegetables and KEEP the liquid! Process the vegetables in either a food mill or a blender. Return them to the liquid.

Add the butter and the cream. Reheat and taste...you may wish to add a bit more salt... Serve sprinkled with the chives.

To change that masterpiece into a Watercress Soup (Potage au Cresson), hold the chives. Instead finely chop a bunch of watercress and add it at the same time that you add the butter and cream. Serve with the top sprinkled with additional finely chopped watercress.

Posted to JEWISH-FOOD digest V97 #306 by "Claude V. Hall" <cvhall@...> on Nov 23, 1997

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