Read Around My French Table Online
Authors: Dorie Greenspan
P
EAS, ALONG WITH ASPARAGUS, ANNOUNCE SPRING
with more veracity than the first robin redbreast. As soon as the pods appear, pea soups, pea purees, and peas with onions show up on restaurant menus all across France. But I have a sneaking suspicion that, with the exception of the Michelin-starred places with phalanxes of
commis
to de-pod and even sometimes peel the peas, most places do what French home cooks do year-round: they buy ready-to-cook frozen peas. Peas are one of those vegetables that freeze really well (in fact, many cooks believe that only just-picked peas deliver better taste), and having a sack of them on hand gives you the chance to quickly add color, texture, and another flavor to many dishes (see
[>]
) and to make this cheery soup in the dead of winter.
The soup, made in about 15 minutes, is the liquid version of a classic French dish, peas with lettuce and onions. It's a gorgeous spring green color and looks a bit dressy served in small bowls or cups with a dollop of cream in the center. The bonus: when the weather warms up, the soup is just as flavorful chilled, and even more beautiful poured into clear glasses.
| 1 | tablespoon unsalted butter |
| 1 | medium onion, coarsely chopped |
| Salt and freshly ground pepper | |
| 6 | cups vegetable broth, chicken broth, or water |
| 1 | pound frozen peas |
| 1 | medium head romaine lettuce, trimmed and sliced |
| Crème fraîche, sour cream, or heavy cream, for serving (optional) | |
| Crumbled bacon, for serving (optional) |
Melt the butter in a medium Dutch oven or soup pot. Toss in the onion and cook, stirring, just until it softens, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, pour in the broth or water, and bring to a boil. Stir in the peas (it's okay if they're still frozen) and lettuce. Lower the heat to a simmer and allow the soup to gently bubble away, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender or food processor or use an immersion blender until it's as smooth as you can get it; a blender will give you the smoothest soup, but even a blender can't perfectly puree pea skins. If you want a smoother soup, push it through a strainer.
Taste the soup for salt and pepper, and, if it needs to be hotter, return it to the pot and warm it over very low heat. Or chill it to serve cold. If desired, garnish each serving with a dollop of cream and/or a sprinkling of bacon.
MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS
SERVING
The soup can be served either hot or chilled. No matter the temperature, it's nice with a dollop of cream. You can use crème fraîche, sour cream, or heavy cream, and you can either put a spoonful in the center of each bowl or swirl it into the soup before you ladle it out. For a little something extra, scatter some crumbled bacon over the cream or on top of the soup.
STORING
The soup can be kept covered in the refrigerator (where it's possible that oxidation will darken its color a little) for up to 2 days. Reheat it, or serve it cold.
A
FTER THE VEGETABLE VENDOR AT
the boulevard Raspail market kept everyone in line waiting for ten minutes while she told a customer how to roast corn (see
[>]
), I had corn on my brain. But when I finally bought some, instead of roasting it, I made this soup, which I think of as something the French would have created had sweet corn been one of their native crops.
The soup is not thick, but it is quite substantial, very corny, and softly and naturally sweet. It can stand on its own, but its flavor is so compatible with so many other ingredients that I like to put a spoonful of something surprising in the center of the bowls before I ladle in the soup. I've included instructions for a simple garnish of fresh corn kernels, scallions, bacon, and a touch of chile pepper, but for special occasions, I urge you to try crème fraìche and caviar and/or very thin slices of scallops or shrimp (see Bonne Idée).
| FOR THE SOUP | |
| 3 | ears corn (preferably yellow corn for its color), husked |
| 3 | cups whole milk |
| 2 | tablespoons unsalted butter |
| 1 | large onion, preferably Spanish, finely chopped |
| Fine sea salt | |
| 1 | celery stalk, trimmed and thinly sliced |
| 1 | carrot, trimmed, peeled, and thinly sliced |
| 1 | garlic clove, split, germ removed, and finely chopped |
| 2 | cups water |
| 2 | thyme sprigs |
| 2 | rosemary sprigs |
| 1 | bay leaf |
| Freshly ground white pepper | |
| | |
| FOR THE GARNISH (OPTIONAL BUT VERY GOOD) | |
| Kernels from ½ ear of corn | |
| 1 | scallion, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced |
| ½ | small chile pepper, halved, seeded, and thinly sliced, or a pinch of piment d'Espelette (see Sources [>] ) or cayenne |
| 2 | strips bacon, cooked and finely chopped |
| | |
| ¼ | cup crème fraîche, for serving (optional) |
TO MAKE THE SOUP:
You need to strip the corn kernels from the cobs—a messy job that's best done by standing each cob upright in a large bowl, grabbing a sturdy chef's knife, and cutting straight down the cob through the base of the kernels. Turn the cob and cut, and continue turning and cutting until all the kernels have been released; reserve the cob. Set the kernels aside and cut each cob into 3 pieces.
Put the cobs in a saucepan, pour in the milk, and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let the milk steep while you work on the rest of the soup.
Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Add the onion and a pinch of sea salt and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until the onion softens and glistens with butter—it shouldn't take on any color. Toss in the celery, carrot, garlic, and corn kernels, season with a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring now and then, until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.
Add the water, milk, and corncobs to the pot, along with the herbs and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, then immediately lower the heat, partially cover the pot, and cook the soup at a gentle simmer for 20 minutes.
MEANWHILE, TO MAKE THE GARNISH, IF USING:
Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl.
Taste the soup and season with salt and white pepper as needed. Remove and discard the cobs, bay leaf, and whatever herb sprigs you can fish out easily from the soup. Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender or food processor; or use an immersion blender. If you'd like the soup to be smoother, push it through a strainer, pressing down on the solids to squeeze out every last bit of flavor. Taste again for salt and pepper and, if the soup has cooled considerably, reheat it—this soup is at its best really hot.
Serve immediately, with or without the garnish, topping each bowl with a dollop of crème fraîche, if you like.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
SERVING
Divide the garnish among the soup bowls if you're using it, ladle the soup over the garnish, and top each bowl with a spoonful of crème fraîche, if desired.
STORING
The soup can be kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or it can be packed airtight and frozen for up to 2 months.
BONNE IDÉE
Because the soup is sweet, it takes well to salty additions, of which the simplest and most elegant is a spoonful of crème fraîche (or unsweetened whipped cream) and some caviar. Many of the less expensive roes, particularly Avruga, smoked herring roe (available in specialty stores), are wonderful here. If you want to go all out, place a few thin slices of raw shrimp or sea scallops (my favorite), a couple of raw bay scallops, or some very thin slices of raw or lightly cooked lobster in the bottom of each soup plate, and use the crème fraîche and caviar to top the soup. If you'd like, you can use just the seafood, seasoned with a little fleur de sel and piment d'Espelette or cayenne.
While its name translates as "fresh cream," crème fraîche is almost the opposite of that: it's heavy cream that's been cultured or fermented, rendering it
not
fresh, but alluringly tangy. Crème fraîche's closest American relative is sour cream, but crème fraîche is thicker (the best crème fraîche pulls from the tub like taffy), denser, silkier, and slightly sweeter. It can also do two things that sour cream can't: it can handle heat without curdling, making it a terrific sauce thickener, and it can be whipped. In cooking, heavy cream is the best substitute for crème fraîche—you won't get crème fraîche's tang, but you won't have any separation anxiety either. In baking, the best substitute is heavy cream, although sour cream will work in some recipes. But when you want the texture and slight sourness, crème fraîche is the choice. While it's expensive and not always easy to find here, you can easily make a faux crème fraîche at home; you just have to plan ahead (
[>]
).
M
Y FRIEND CHRISTINE VASSEUR IS
the kind of Parisian who can grab one of her kid's mufflers, tie it around her neck, and have it look as if she got it at Dior. And what she does with fashion, she can do with food. As proof, I offer you recipes for three of her soups, each of which has vibrant color, full flavor, a fanciful crown of spiced whipped cream, and an ingredient list so short it can be printed on a Post-it.
These three soups are nothing more than the star vegetable (plus a zucchini for color when you're making the green soups) and some broth. And, yes, Christine makes the broth from bouillon cubes. Everything's cooked for about 15 minutes, whirred in a blender, and served hot or cold. Either way, the soups get topped with spiced whipped cream: cardamom for the asparagus, curry for the broccoli, and piment d'Espelette or crushed pink peppercorns for the red pepper.
The colors are stunning, and you can play them up easily if you serve them a la Christine, in glasses: lowballs or snifters if you're serving one soup, tall shot glasses if you're offering all three. Fill the glasses just halfway, then top with the cream. For even more drama, use a siphon (a whipper with a carbon dioxide charger), and you'll have a topping so airy it just about bubbles and pops on your spoon.
| FOR THE ASPARAGUS SOUP | |
| 4 | cups water |
| 2 | bouillon cubes, vegetable or chicken (or 4 cups broth to replace the water and cubes) |
| 1 | pound asparagus, trimmed and peeled |
| ½ | pound zucchini, trimmed |
| Salt and freshly ground pepper | |
| | |
| FOR THE BROCCOLI SOUP | |
| 4 | cups water |
| 2 | bouillon cubes, vegetable or chicken (or 4 cups broth to replace the water and cubes) |
| ¾ | pound broccoli florets (from 1 large bunch) |
| ½ | pound zucchini, trimmed |
| Salt and freshly ground pepper | |
| | |
| FOR THE RED PEPPER SOUP | |
| 4 | cups water |
| 2 | bouillon cubes, vegetable or chicken (or 4 cups broth to replace the water and cubes) |
| 1 | pound red bell peppers, cored and seeded |
| Salt and freshly ground pepper | |
| | |
| FOR THE CREAM TOPPING | |
| 1 | cup cold heavy cream (for each soup) |
| Salt | |
| Ground cardamom, curry powder, piment d'Espelette (see Sources [>] ), or crushed pink peppercorns, depending on the soup(s) you're making (see above) |
TO MAKE THE SOUPS:
Each soup should be made separately, but the techniques, such as they are, are essentially the same. Bring the water and bouillon cubes (or the broth) to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cut the vegetables into smallish chunks, drop into the pot, and season with salt and pepper. (Bouillon cubes are usually saltier than broth, so season accordingly.) Lower the heat so that the liquid simmers, partially cover the pan, and cook until the vegetables can be pierced easily with the tip of a knife, about 10 minutes for the asparagus, 15 for the broccoli, and 15 to 20 for the peppers.
Puree the soup in a blender or food processor; or use an immersion blender. The asparagus and broccoli soups puree very smoothly, but because of the skins on the peppers, the red pepper soup needs a push through a strainer after it's been pureed.
If you're serving the soup warm, rinse out the saucepan, pour in the soup, and keep it warm over the gentlest heat while you whip the cream. If cold soup is on the menu, pour the soup into a pitcher and chill.