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Potage (Winter Vegetable Soup)
Served with cheese & crusty bread
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Serves 4
Prep time: 20 minutes Total time: 45 minutes |
- 3 fat leeks
- 2 medium starchy potatoes
- 2 carrots
- 1 turnip
- 2 Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) if available
- 1 rutabaga, if you don’t find the Jerusalem artichokes
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 1 sweet apple, such as a Jonagold
- 1 bunch thyme
- 1 big chunk of great cheese such as Comte, a farmstead white cheddar, aged Gouda or another favorite (or smaller pieces of all of these)
- 1 or 2 loaves of great, crusty bread
Shopping List
- Bay leaves
- Black pepper
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Garlic
- Sea salt
Pantry Items
- Bread knife
- Chef’s knife
- Dutch oven
- Immersion blender
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Paring knife
- Strainer
- Vegetable Peeler
- Wooden spoons
Tools
- Wine: Sauvignon blanc
- Dessert: Rice pudding
Suggestions
- When you walk in the door
- Don’t refrigerate the cheese
- Get out Pantry Items
- Get out Tools
- Assemble the ingredients
- Open the wine and put it in the fridge
- Prep
- Trim and clean the leeks. Cut the white and the green part into 1-inch lengths, put them in a strainer and rinse them, just to be sure there’s no grit.
- Peel the potatoes and coarsely chop.
- Rinse, peel and coarsely chop the carrots, turnip, Jerusalem artichokes or rutabaga.
- Rinse, peel, core and coarsely chop the apple.
- Peel and coarsely chop the onion.
- Peel 1 clove garlic and cut it in half.
- Start Cooking
- Put all the vegetables, the garlic and the apple in the Dutch oven and cover by 1-inch with water. Add 2 tsps. salt, 2 bay leaves and 20 sprigs thyme.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat so the water is boiling gently, partially cover and cook until the veggies are tender, about 25 minutes.
- While the soup is cooking, set the table.
- Put the cheese on a cheeseboard and have a piece with a slice of bread and a glass of wine.
- Before you check the soup, slice the rest of the bread and take it, with the cheese, to the table.
- When the veggies are tender, remove the pot from the heat and remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs.
- Puree the soup, using either the immersion blender or a food processor.
- Taste it for seasoning.
- If you’re going to serve individual bowls, do so and drizzle each one with 1 tsp. olive oil.
- If you’re going to take the soup pot to the table, remember a hot pad and the olive oil, for drizzling.
- Everything is ready – don’t forget the wine!
