The Soup Storm

There's a soup storm coming

I sat down one afternoon last week and fell into a fugue state. When I awoke to the reality of the 95 degree afternoon here in DC (albeit safely ensconced in my air conditioned house) it was to find a sheaf of pages from my note pad. They were covered with soup recipes. Holy cow, they were covered with summer soup recipes, each intended to be eaten chilled or at room temp.

Being the generous spirit that I am (yeah, right) I will be sharing these with you. It will probably be at a rate of two per week. After all, I owe it to you to actually prepare these divine delectables before pressing you to make them in the safety of your own homes.

It wouldn't be any fun if I left it at that and didn't give you anything to get your appetite wet (as my mother would say).

I do want to be sure to assure you that Stephen, yours truly, me-myself-and-I created these soups without the assistance of any mood-altering concoctions. I think of them as bowl games (oh, stop with the sophomoric humor already).

Let's start with something not particularly unusual, although I would be surprised if anyone reading this has made it in the last month. Tell me if I'm wrong. Stand by for vichyssoise. Don't worry, I actually made this last weekend.

Vichyssoise
butter and olive oil
1 lge onion - finely chopped
3 large leeks - trimmed and finely chopped
4 medium potatoes - peeled and finely chopped
1 quart of stock
1 cup milk
juice of ½ lemon
ground cumin
ground coriander
garlic powder
salt and pepper

Gently saute the onions and leeks in the butter and oil in a heavy pan until soft and beginning to turn translucent, 15 minutes.
Add the potatoes, stock and milk. Add salt and pepper, cumin, coriander and garlic powder (all to taste). Bring to a gentle simmer for 30 minutes. Don't let it boil.
Turn the heat off, add lemon juice and let it cool completely. Puree in batches in your food processor. Add more stock as necessary to achieve your desired consistency.
Chill in the fridge until time to serve. Garnish with some julienned zucchini if you wish. And perhaps a drizzle of olive oil.