Potage Parmentier
The hot original that vichyssoise is a chilled version of: leeks, potatoes, water and butter. Julia Child called it the simplest good soup there is.
Photograph credit: potages parmentier by thepinkpeppercorn · CC BY 2.0 · Flickr
Water rather than stock, which sounds like an economy and is a decision — stock muddies a soup that is meant to taste precisely of leek and potato and nothing else. The texture is the other thing: this is crushed with a masher or passed through a mouli, never blended. A blender bursts the potato starch cells and turns the soup gluey, which is the single most common way people ruin it.
Potage Parmentier: Step by Step
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Put the leeks, potatoes, water and salt in a pan and bring to the boil.
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Simmer, partly covered, for 35 minutes, until the potatoes are completely tender and beginning to fall apart.
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Crush the soup with a potato masher, or pass it through the coarse plate of a mouli. Do not use a blender.
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It should be rough-textured, with visible pieces of leek.
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Off the heat, beat in the cold butter a few pieces at a time so it emulsifies rather than melting into a slick.
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Add the pepper and the cream, and taste for salt.
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Serve hot with chives or parsley.
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Worth Getting Right
- Water, not stock. The point is to taste the vegetables.
- Masher or mouli. A blender makes it gluey.
- Cold butter beaten in off the heat.
Changing the Recipe
- In a sauce, full-fat crème fraîche can usually take the place of the double cream; single cream is thinner and more likely to split if it boils, so keep it below a simmer.
Serve It With
Country bread · A green salad · Gruyère
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Provençal Ratatouille, French Baguette, Fougasse.
Leftovers and Storage
Refrigerated for 3 days. Reheat gently without boiling. It freezes for 2 months.
The Numbers per Serving
Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: part of the energy comes from foods, or weights per item, with no recorded source. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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