If I am going to get a new cookbook, the best possible situation is to have my dad next to me when I do. I can’t think of a better companion for looking through recipes. Who else but my father reads through lists of ingredients with as much relish as I do, as if they were suspenseful novellas? Who else immediately starts thinking about how to change -- and improve -- recipes that we haven’t even tried yet? Nobody, that’s who.
I was lucky to receive Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table when my parents were visiting. North Dakota’s weather was kind enough to trap them here an extra four days for me, and although my dad and I didn’t get a chance to try any of the recipes in the cookbook, we did make our way through most of the book in a way. While I started the coffee in the mornings, he would sit at the island in the kitchen, reading it out loud to me.
The recipes in Greenspan’s book might be from a French table -- and I do love reading her stories of learning new dishes and encounters with the butchers and cheese mongers of Paris -- but the recipes are also perfect for anywhere that you have access to really good, fresh produce. The first recipe I tried uses ingredients that, even in the upper Midwest, even in the winter, you might find in a late-season CSA box, or overwintered and available at your co-op.
I chose the leek and potato soup, whose name is practically a recipe in itself -- there’s not much more to it. The difference between this recipe and the way I’ve always made the soup before is that this time the milk is added at the beginning and boiled with all the other ingredients (usually the cream is added at the end and never brought above a simmer). This new way appealed to me; I like a recipe you don’t have to babysit.
Another reason I chose this soup is that I have a preschooler in the house who’s convinced she hates potatoes and loves parsley passionately. (Cora’s relationship with parsley is simple: if she sees it, she eats it. Our last year in Minneapolis I planted a little vegetable and herb garden at her preschool, including two parsley plants and two basil plants. Overall, the kids were not impressed by the taste of the herbs, but they were impressed by Cora’s appetite for them. When I would pick her up in the afternoon, she would hover by the garden first, stuffing basil and parsley in her mouth until she couldn’t talk, and then stuffing more in her pockets for the ride home.) I hoped that the parsley would be Cora’s gateway to potato soup.
Leek and potato soup can be served chunky or smooth. I pureed the soup, hoping to hide the potatoes from Cora; topped it with fresh parsley; and served it with a platter of grapes, cheese, and homemade rye bread. As we sat down to eat I told Cora we were eating a soup that the French would call potage. She had fun saying potage and slurping up her parsley. She paused and thought for a moment, then said, “I think this soup would be good to eat while you watch a movie -- if the French people even have movies.”
Leek and Potato Soup (adapted from Around My French Table, by Dorie Greenspan)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 large onion, preferably Spanish, chopped (I used a plain white onion)
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (Greenspan suggests splitting the clove and removing the small germ within each clove; I didn’t do this)
3 leeks, split lengthwise, washed, thinly sliced; white and light green parts only
1 large russet potato, peeled and cubed
6 thyme sprigs (I used dried thyme, about ½ tsp)
2 fresh sage leaves (optional) (I didn’t have these available)
4 cups chicken broth or water (I used chicken broth; I think vegetable broth would be just as suitable, too)
3 cups whole milk or water (I used milk)
Optional toppings: minced fresh parsley, sage, tarragon, or marjoram, or a combination; snipped fresh chives; grated Parmesan or Gruyere; croutons; truffle oil
Melt the butter in a Dutch oven or soup pot over low heat. Add the onion and the garlic and stir until they glisten with butter, then season with salt and white pepper, cover, and cook for about 10 minutes, until the onion is soft but not colored.
Add the remaining ingredients, along with a little more salt, increase the heat, and bring to a boil. As soon as the soup bubbles, turn the heat to low, mostly cover the pot, and simmer gently for 30-40 minutes, or until all the vegetables are mashably soft. Taste the soup and season generously with salt and white pepper.
The soup can be pureed at this point in a blender or with an immersion blender, or can be served chunky. It can be served hot or cold. We liked it pureed and hot, with plenty of parsley on top!
Merie Kirby grew up in California, moved to Minneapolis for grad school, and after getting her MFA stayed for fifteen more years. She now lives in Grand Forks, ND with her husband and daughter. Merie writes poetry and essays, as well as texts in collaboration with composers. She also writes about cooking, reading, parenting, and creating on her own blog, All Cheese Dinner. Her most recurrent dream is of making cookies with her mother. This is an excellent dream. Merie's last piece for Simple, Good, and Tasty was Lemon Meringue Pie Brings Sunshine During a Long Winter.
