Smart Wife’s leek and potato soup recipe (vichyssoise)
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Starters and Soups | 21 comments
Even though the room was dark, the rustle from the bed indicated that Danny was awake. I shot in, spoon in hand.
“I think that I’ve finally got the vichyssoise right! I just need you to taste it.”
“But I’ve just cleaned my teeth.”
Danny tasted it anyway, gave it the thumbs up and fell asleep.
Years ago Smart Wife taught me how to make vichyssoise. I made gallons of the stuff and we would drink it throughout the long hot Chelsea summers. This was Smart Wife’s favourite soup and I must admit I never tired of it.
Not having made the recipe for 25 years, I was a bit hazy as to the exact proportions of the ingredients. All that I was certain about was that the soup was made with chicken stock, onions, leeks and potatoes. So I laid out the ingredients on the kitchen table and pretended that I was back in the little galley kitchen.
This method magically produced an excellent soup! Perhaps Smart Wife was directing me from that great kitchen in the sky. The only ingredients that I have added are the lemon juice and rape seed oil. I am trying to cut down on our salt intake and have discovered that lemon juice is often a better alternative to enhance flavours. Smart Wife just used butter to sauté the onions. I used a combination of a light rape seed oil and butter.
This soup is superb. We have tried it hot with a swirl of cream and chilled with a swirl of cream. If it was summer, I would add the cream to the soup and leave it in a big bowl in the fridge.
Smart Wife’s leek and potato soup recipe (vichyssoise)
Ingredients:
- 200g of finely sliced onions
- 500g of prepared leeks (tops discarded, washed and sliced fine)
- 300g of potatoes (peeled and sliced)
- 2 pts of hot chicken stock (I used 2 Knorr cubes)
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- 1-2 tablespoons of light rape seed oil
- 15g Butter
- 284ml Single cream
Method:
- Heat the rape seed oil in a large heavy bottomed saucepan and add the onions. Stir to coat the onions in the oil and sweat over a low heat (lid on) for fifteen minutes.
- Add the leeks and the butter cut into small pieces. Stir the leeks and onions and leeks together and sweat over a gentle heat for about ten minutes (lid on.) Stir every now and then to distribute the melting butter.
- Add the chicken stock and potatoes. Bring slowly to the boil and simmer the vegetables until tender (about 20 minutes).
- Add the lemon juice and liquidise the soup. I used a hand held blender.
- Serve with a swirl of single cream and a sprinkle of parsley. If you just want to eat this soup cold, add the cream when the soup has cooled and store in the fridge. It will keep for a couple of days. If you are planning to freeze the soup, leave out the cream and add some when you are going to serve the soup.
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tried this soup at the weekend it was lovely with and without the cream
thankyou for sharing this
deborah
Hi Amanda,
Don’t worry. I was wondering if you had discovered that it was not as beneficial as people think. So I’m pleased to hear that this is not the case.
We have 2 types. A lighter coloured one with a subtler taste Farrington’s Mellow Yellow (gold taste awards winner 2006) and a stronger, darker one that is produced in Suffolk – Hillfarm Oils (gold taste award 2006).
I have to find it again. That’s the problem with having far too many newspapers and magazines. I will find it though as I’d like to buy some. I have a feeling it was produced near you Fiona.
Hi Amanda,
The lemon juice seems to work in most dishes. D has high blood pressure so I am experimenting a lot with alternatives to salt.
I am intrigued about the rapeseed oil article!
Hi Kathyann,
I love soup. Particularly in the winter. It’s a great way of wobbling off a few extra pounds too!
Hi Pat,
We have had this soup for lunch every day since I made it! Danny has asked for it next week too!
Hi Joanna,
I tried a few Vichyssoise recipes and they were all a bit disappointing. Finally I was determined to make a good one. Tastes have changed over the last 25 years but this turned out well and I was delighted.
Hi Kate(uk),
Yes, I agree, you do get used to using less salt.
Most of ours is added at the table. I do like salt but am cutting down gradually.
Hi Celia,
Great rant!
I reckon that really good seasoning is so subtle that it can be killed by salt.
I feel a rant coming on . . .
I totally agree with Kate’s comment about salt – I use as little as possible when cooking at home and none in the water when cooking veg or on the table, but some restaurant chefs must chuck in bucketfulls! TV chefs often criticise amateur cooks for not ‘seasoning’ the food enough – I’ve a hunch they’re so used to salt they just need more and more.
I remember that after two weeks in Japan our first meal at home was a can of soup and a slice of supermarket bread – we both almost spat it out in disgust as it tasted just like strong brine!
Sorry Fiona – just getting that off my chest!
The soup sounds gorgeous.
Leek and potato is just my very favourite soup- pumpkin and sweet potato comes a close second. As soon as it gets even slightly chilly, it is time for soup.
Once you get used to less salt, you adjust to the taste- after years of using less, I now find, when I eat away from home. food can be astonishingly salty tasting, so much so I wonder how people enjoy it!
My husband loves Vichyssoise, and I hardly ever make it, because it often turns out so-so. I like this because there’s not so much potato compared to alliums – and I love the idea of the lemon juice here.
Amanda, if you get round to sending the article, could you send it to me too??? Cheeky, I know 😉
Joanna x
It must have been a leek and potato soup kind of day yesterday. 🙂 That is what I fixed for lunch.
I also love hot leek and potato soup especially with a chunk of fresh home made bread mmm, gorgeous its making me feel hungry.This is a cheap nutricious meal,you don’t have to be vegetarian to enjoy soups!Ideal for anyone on a low budget.
I love leek and potato soup. Hot or cold. The lemon juice sounds like a good idea to cut back on the salt and I read a very interesting article about rapeseed oil. I’ll try and scan it and e-mail it to you. (Read that: I’ll ask husband to scan it and then I’ll e-mail it to you).