country vichyssoise

I call this vichyssoise country because when you make it in the blender (even multiple passes), you still get a few tiny lumps. Also I use black pepper, not white, so it is not perfect in appearance. This recipe is based on an old edition of my bible, The Joy of Cooking.

Sauté a few sliced leeks (white part) and a sliced onion in a few tbsp of butter. When soft, add four peeled, sliced potatoes and four cups of dilute chicken broth. Simmer until tender. Blend until smooth; I usually pass the whole thing through the blender multiple times; the traditional thing is to force it through a sieve. You want it to be as smooth as possible. Salt and pepper the blended soup until it tastes good.

Chill. Add a cup of cream and wisk till perfectly blended. Serve cold (even ice cold) with chopped chives or green onions.

Vichyssoise is easy to make, but I can't quite figure out how to make it well. Maybe PMC can weigh in on this. The best I have ever had is in Le Café de Paris by the Casino in Monte Carlo. It was rich in taste but also very light in consistency. Perhaps the traditional method of forcing the soup through a fine sieve is better than blending it. That sounds dangerously like rocket science.

cold celery soup

This is a variation of PMC's soup algorithm, chilled for summer.

Sauté a thinly sliced medium onion in a few tbsp butter until the onion is soft and translucent. Add one whole bunch of celery, chopped and soaked (to remove sand and dirt), and enough diluted chicken broth (home-made or canned) to cover. Simmer for about 30 min. Blend until smooth in a blender, in a food processor, or in the pot with an immersion blender. Taste and adjust salt if necessary. Chill.

When cold, if you wish, mix in a small amount of cream or half-and-half for color and "body"; it's not necessary.

coq au vin

For all our southern-hemisphere readers, or the northern-hemisphere readers for whom it is a cold summer:

Sauté two sliced carrots, one chopped large onion, and one chopped clove of garlic in a few tbsp of butter and a few strips of bacon, chopped into pieces, in an oven-proof pot. Add chicken (in my case, tonight, four large thighs with skins; they are super-cheap and super-tasty). Sauté the chicken a bit too. Add a tbsp or two of flour (I am not sure this is necessary), a bay leaf, and maybe some marjoram and thyme, about 1 tsp salt, pepper, and (nearly) cover with cheap red wine (about 1.5 or 2 cups).

Let it cook in the oven at 250 F (120 C) for 1 hour, covered. Add 1/2 lb sliced mushrooms and cook for 15 more minutes, maybe on the stove-top. Skim some of the fat if you wish (I usually don't); add salt if necessary (it usually is). Serve in shallow bowls with bread, and maybe also roast or boiled potatoes, and maybe a salad to follow (if you have guests).

Coq au vin: who knew? It's not rocket science.

summer borscht

This recipe was reconstructed from the 'fuzz's memory, and various unreliable WWW recipes. We wanted a borscht that involved no meat, and that was light and refreshing for summer. Apparently it's not rocket science.

Cut tops from 6 or so beets, scrub clean, and simmer in 1.5 qts water until beets are starting to become fork-tender (maybe 1.25 hr). Remove beets from liquid and let them cool a bit.

Add to the beet water 1 bay leaf, 1 med onion cut up a bit, a quarter of the (washed, coarsely chopped) beet tops, 1 tbsp vinegar, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp peppercorns, (and maybe 1 tsp sugar or honey) and simmer till you have soup (maybe 1 hr). Strain the soup through a cloth to remove all solids. Add peeled, finely chopped beets back in. (Note how easily cooked beets peel themselves.) You won't necessarily want to add back in all the beets you cooked originally. Simmer a bit more. Near the end, adjust seasoning, and maybe add a bit of honey or sugar if necessary. Remove from heat and chill.

Serve the soup cold with sour cream, and chopped dill, cilantro, and parsley. For added fun, let your guests add their own shredded raw carrots, sliced, hard-boiled eggs, chopped radishes and cucumbers.