Vichyssoise

We're coming up to our one year anniversary of our blog this week! It's been our pleasure to share our recipes with you this past year. And our stories too. We hope you've enjoyed some great meals and hope you enjoy many more. Now when my Ladygirls and I decided to start a blog, we all agreed that we would never share our Vichyssoise recipe. Hahaha I don't know why we decided that. I guess because we were heading into unknown territory, and a lady always likes to keep an ace up her sleeve! Vichyssoise is by far, our favourite food. Bailey and Kelly have been loving it since they were toddlers. And we have always kept our recipe top secret! But it seems like silly and strange hoarder behaviour not to share it now. In just one year, we have had more than eight thousand readers (Yay for us!) and we thank each and every one of you for visiting our site!

Now the thing about Vichyssoise is that it requires very few ingredients, and sometimes that isn't the easiest recipe. You don't have the luxury of garlic and spices and tomatoes to bolster up your flavour. But to keep it pure and classically French, you cannot cheat. The flavour is subtle and elegant, and you really must use the best possible, freshest ingredients you can find. This is the one I break out my Fleur de Sel and my pink peppercorns for. And I use only homemade stock for it because you will taste it if you use canned. And here is the best advice I can give you - Inform your guests before they pick up their spoon that they will be enjoying COLD soup! I can't tell you how many times my lovely guests have informed me that my soup is cold! Hahah Whoops! Sorry, I must have forgotten to heat that up for you! Yes. This is cold soup. Don't even be tempted to eat it hot. Just skip over this recipe altogether and make a hearty chowder if you don't like the idea of eating a beautifully chilled, classically French, gorgeous and subtle soup!

And just of note, if you have a fussy eater, children love this! Bailey and Kelly have been eating this all their lives. And my friend Tamba, mother of Bailey's Godson told me that she thinks possibly 25% of Narayan's body weight is made up of Vichyssoise because he adores it so much! So lets get started.

You'll need:
3 leeks, well rinsed and thinly sliced. Just use the white parts and throw away the tough green part
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 stalks of finely chopped celery
2 peeled and thinly sliced potatoes
1/2 cup of salted butter
2 1/2 cups of chicken stock. Or vegetable if you want to make this vegetarian
salt and freshly ground pepper
About 2 cups of half and half cream
Sliced green onions to garnish

Saute the leeks, onion and celery in the butter on medium heat just to soften them. Don't let them brown.
Add the potatoes and chicken broth. Simmer for about 30 minutes covered, and about 5 minutes uncovered. When the potatoes are very soft and easily break apart, remove from the heat and puree it with an immersion blender or a blender.
Whisk in about 3/4 cup of the cream, season it to your taste with salt and pepper and bring it just to a simmer and remove it off the heat. Chill this for at least 6 hours, but overnight is better.

Just before you serve, whisk in more cream slowly. You don't want it to be too thin. So keep tasting it until it comes to the consistency you like. You don't want it to be heavy like a chowder. So a bit less than that, but not thin like a broth. It should still coat the spoon. You have to experiment till you get it to your liking. No rules here. You decide. And also taste it for seasoning. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Garnish with sliced green onions.

You can serve this as an elegant starter for a fancy dinner, or if you love it as much as we do, just have it for your main on a beautiful spring day with a nice, green side salad. Enjoy!