French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [97]
‘When the turnips are cooked press them through a fine sieve with a wooden pestle.
‘If the purée is too thick, thin it with milk, and then stir in 2 oz. of butter. From this moment the soup should be kept very hot, but without boiling. Cut some bread into slices as thin as possible, arrange them in the soup tureen and pour the soup over them.’ Plenty for four.
CRÈME DE LA GRAND’ TANTE
CREAM OF CAULIFLOWER SOUP
‘When I was young,’ says M. Renaudet, ‘we gave this name to a soup which was the triumph of the great-aunt of one of my friends. She rarely omitted to tell us on these occasions how her own mother, an intimate friend of Madame Récamier and Monsieur de Châteaubriand, served it to them when they came to sit at her table, and that they complained whenever this soup was replaced by another. It does not, however, call for any complicated ingredients, nor for any difficult process in its preparation.
‘For six people you need a cauliflower, 1 pints of bouillon, a glass of milk, 4 oz. of butter, 4 yolks of eggs, salt, no pepper.
‘Take off the outside leaves of the cauliflower, separate it into branches, wash it, and cook in very lightly salted water. When it is absolutely soft, drain it, pound it to a purée with a wooden pestle, and pass it through a fine sieve.
‘Add this purée to the bouillon and bring it to the boil very gradually over a low fire. Let it simmer a quarter of an hour. Draw the saucepan to the side of the stove and add a glass (about pint) of milk. Taste to see if the soup is neither too much nor too little salted; if too much, add a little more milk. Add the butter, stirring as it melts. To finish, beat the yolks with half a glass of water, and add them to the soup, heating it gently but without letting it boil, so that the yolks thicken the soup into a cream.’
Disliking cauliflower cooked in its more ordinary ways, I find this soup a very satisfactory method of dealing with this vegetable, its normal coarse flavour and soggy texture being transformed into a delicate and smooth cream.
POTAGE CRÈME DE TOMATES ET DE POMMES DE TERRE
CREAM OF TOMATO AND POTATO SOUP
The white part of 2 leeks, lb. tomatoes, lb. of potatoes, 1 oz. butter, a little cream, chervil or parsley.
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan; before it has bubbled put in the finely sliced leeks; let them just soften in the butter. Half the success of the soup depends upon this first operation. If the butter burns or the leeks brown instead of just melting the flavour will be spoilt.
Add the roughly chopped tomatoes; again let them cook until they start to give out their juice. Add the peeled and diced potato, a seasoning of salt and two lumps of sugar. Cover with 1 pints of water. After the soup comes to the boil let it simmer steadily but not too fast for 25 minutes. Put it through the food mill, twice if necessary. Return the purée to the rinsed-out saucepan. When it is hot, add about 4 oz. of cream. In warm weather it is advisable to first bring this to the boil, as if it is not quite fresh it is liable to curdle when it makes contact with the acid of the tomatoes. Immediately before serving stir in a little chervil or very finely chopped parsley. Enough for four good helpings.
For all its simplicity and cheapness this is a lovely soup, in which you taste butter, cream and each vegetable, and personally I think it would be a mistake to add anything to it in the way of individual fantasies. It should not, however, be thicker than thin cream, and if it has come out too solid the addition of a little milk or water will do no harm.
The chef’s soup known as potage Solférino is based on this purée of tomatoes, leeks and potatoes but is complicated, needlessly to my mind, with a final addition of little pieces of french beans and tiny marbles of potatoes scooped