Julia Child's Leek and Potato Soup

How could I have missed it for so long! It's a recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking that isn't outdated (Aspics and Molds, 544-6), uses no extravagant ingredients (Foie Gras Stuffing with Prunes for Goose, 284), and does not involve cooking lettuce (Lettuce, Braised, 489). Also, it's the very first recipe in the book. It makes enough for 6-8 people, or for two people with some for the next day's lunch and some for the freezer. It's better on the second day. Julia Child calls for a bit of cream or butter, but I had some good milk in the fridge and used that instead with fine results. Julia Child also calls for peeling the potatoes, but that's just silly. Here's the basic recipe:

• 1 pound potatoes, chopped
• 1 pound thinly sliced leeks
• 2 quarts water
• 1 tbs. salt
• 1/3 cup whole milk or cream

Simmer the vegetables, water, and salt together, partially covered, for 40 to 50 minutes. Mash the vegetables with a potato masher (or fork, or food mill); don't puree it. Immediately before serving, add the milk (or just add a tablespoon or so to each bowl).

The recipe also calls for parsley or chives added at the very end, which I would have done if I had either. My mother likes to put cilantro in her leek and potato soup, which I also endorse. Julia Child mentions that you can add carrots, turnips, tomatoes, half-cooked dried beans, peas, or lentils with their cooking liquid at the beginning. You can also add cauliflower, cucumbers, broccoli, Lima beans, peas, string beans, okra, zucchini, shredded lettuce (oops!), spinach, sorrel, or cabbage after the soup is mashed, to be cooked for 10 minutes or so. I made my batch with some carrots and parsnips, even though parsnips aren't on this list. Deviation from a Julia Child recipe usually leads to ruination, but I got away with this one.

Káposztaleves olasz galuskával

Yesterday, I applied to Yale's Directed Independent Language Study program. Since I'll be learning Hungarian again, I now have an excuse to write titles that nobody can understand.

I had chicken stock and bok choy that I needed to use up. They, along with my pangs of reminiscence for Hungary, led to this soup, which involves weird Hungarian/Italian dumplings that were good but still need some work.

• 6 cups of stock/water
• 1 onion
• 2 carrot
• 5 little bok choy heads (maybe 1/2 pound in all)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• parsley (not too much)
• Parmesan cheese
• nutmeg
• salt, pepper, olive oil

Chop the onions, carrots, and cabbage. Cook them with the olive oil over medium-low heat in a big pot, and add a little bit of salt and pepper to them. While you're doing this, bring the stock to a boil. When the vegetables are soft (about 20 minutes), pour the stock over them. After this simmers for 5-10 minutes, start making the galuska by mixing 1/4 cup of flour with a lot of Parmesan (details at the end for this), salt, nutmeg, and pepper (lots of pepper). Add the parsley, minced very finely. Add two eggs and beat them a bit. Then add the 1/4 cup milk and about a tablespoon of water, and mix as little as possible while still mixing everything up. Then, add more flour until the dough is quite thick--it should still be liquid, but about as thick as a liquid can be. Before you add this to the soup, turn the heat up so that it stays at a boil when you do. Put the batter into your soup by pressing it through a galuska tray, which all good cooks keep around (well, in Hungary they did--you could push it through the back of a grater, or just spoon it into the soup in chunks). Cook this for about four minutes and then remove the pot from the heat. Add more pepper to the soup, and more salt if it needs it.

This soup was hard to screw up, since my chicken stock was good enough that I could have just heated it up and called it soup. The vegetables were nice, but I couldn't taste the Parmesan in the galuska at all. Part of the problem is that my Parmesan is not from Parma and is not very strong (or very good). I think I used about 1/3 of a cup, and next time I'll double that. I could taste the nutmeg and pepper, though, and they were good (though completely non-Hungarian).

Squash and Beet Soup Update

I made squash and beet soup again using one beet instead of three (and also using homemade chicken stock). The results? It was actually better the old, sweet way. The one-beet soup was more hearty and more boring. I think the thing to do would be to eliminate the cinnamon and add some onion.

I should also mention that I left out the garlic when I wrote up the original soup. I've fixed it now here.

Squash and Beet Soup

I will not attempt to explain my long absence.

I had a squash, some beets, and a yearning for soup. What resulted was a delicious soup that was so sweet it reminded me of Hungarian fruit soup.

• 1 medium-sized squash
  
• 3 medium-sized beets
  
• 1 carrot
  
• 3 peeled garlic cloves
  
• 4-5 cups of liquid (I used about half chicken stock and half water)
  
• salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg
  

Bring the water/stock to a boil. As it heats, peel the beets, garlic, carrot, and squash and chop them roughly into cubes, tossing the vegetables into the stock as soon as you've chopped them. (I ordered them this way intentionally: the beets take the longest to cook through.) Keep a low simmer. When everything is soft (after about 45 minutes, though I added my beets after my squash and it took longer), mash with a potato masher right in the pot. (I'd say don't do it too thoroughly--the occasional chunk is nice.) Add a tiny bit of cinnamon, a good grating of nutmeg, lots of pepper, and however much salt is necessary (which depending on the saltiness of the stock may be none).

The ratio of vegetables is what it is because it's what I had. Next time, I'll use fewer beets, as they really dominated the soup.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention the garlic the first time; I've added it now. Also, I've written more about this recipe.