French Potage with Pistou

I am a lover of the Vegetarian Times. I made their French Potage with Pistou last night and have not stopped eating it since. It is damn good. And it gets better the next day.

Here's the recipe.

Potage
2 Tbs butter
2 medium leeks (white and pale green parts chopped up to equal about 4 cups)
1/4 c. white wine (I naturally added a bit more)
4 cloves garlic (Again, I am a bit heavy handed with the garlic)
1 large russet potato, peeled and diced (I used the russet, but I am tempted to use a sweet potato next time...)
4 medium carrots, chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme (I used dried...it's winter and herbs are pricey)
1 bay leaf
4 cups veggie broth

Pistou--this is the topping...optional, but yummy.
1 cup firmly backed basil leaves
1/4 c. toasted walnuts
1 clove garlic
1/4 c. olive oil

1. To make the Portage: Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks and pinch of salt; cover and cook 5 to 7 minutes, or until leeks are softened, stirring often. Stir in wine and garlic and cook, uncovered, 1 to 2 minutes, or until most liquid has evaporated.
2. Add potato, carrots, thyme, bay leaf, broth and 2 cups of water. Season with salt and pepper; cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 30 minutes, or until potato and carrots are soft.
3. Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Puree soup until smooth.
4. To make the Pistou: Place basil, walnuts and garlic in blender. Pulse to combine. Pour in oil, and blend until smooth. Add water if necessary to form smooth paste. Serve dollop on top of Portage.

FYI: This soup was in the section on healing soups...apparently it is typically served in hospitals throughout France. I didn't actually think that was a motivating factor to make this soup, but hey at least you know.

Let me know what you thought...

B-nut Soup

I am no Mollie Katzen, but I do like to play in the kitchen. We are firmly in soup season, so I thought I'd offer up this recipe that I made up. All by myself...

• One butternut squash
• 3 or 4 apples (Granny Smith seem to do the best...)
• Sweet potato or two
• onion (I like the Walla Walla, but it could just be me missing Washington)
• two heads of garlic
• leek
  
• 3 or 4 cups of vegetable broth
• a half a cup of white wine (or perhaps more if you have been drinking too much prior to cooking)
  
• Half a package of cream cheese
• Fresh rosemary (or oregano)
  

The Roasting Part.
You can do this ahead of time. Even roast a whole bunch and throw it in the freezer.
Cut the butternut squash in half (lengthwise) and hollow out the seeds. Cut off the top of the head of garlic and tuck in the hollow space to roast. Lay the squash fleshy side down on the rosemary, so it absorbs some of that yummy essence. Cut the apples and sweet potatoes in half. Cut the onion in half. Put all in the roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Cover with tin foil and bake for about an hour. You want the squash to be soft, soft. The apples will explode into softness.

The Saute Part.
Clean the leek really well. The slice it up and throw it into a pan, heated with a little olive oil. Then pour in the wine so the leek gets a little drunk in the white wine. Cook until the leek is soft and the wine has evaporated.


The Blender Part.
Scrape out the squash and sweet potato. Spoon out the apples, cutting out the core. (I suppose you could do this prior to roasting, but whatever.) Squeeze the garlic. Put the roasted veggies and the leek all in a big ol' pot. Add the veggie broth. (You can also use water.) Scoop ladle fulls into the blender. In one of your blender mixes add the cream cheese. Keep blending until the soup is smooth. Add more liquid to get your desired consistency.

Enjoy with some crusty bread and wine.

(I think that's how I do it. I have given the recipe to someone before and left all sorts of things out...)