This simple potage (soup) is derived from guidelines in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. We love it at my house because it makes a cream soup that doesn't require cream for creaminess or flour for thickening. First you make a soup base with potatoes and onions (or leeks), water & salt. The potatoes thicken the soup and make it creamy, and the onions make it sweet.
Testimonial: At dinner before a choir practice, I served this soup with the variation of cubed potatoes, corn, and carrots added to cook briefly at the end, and finished the soup with cream. Everyone loved it. You know how picky kids are? Even the kids came back for seconds.
After the potatoe/onion or leek base is cooked, you puree it, and then you can add pretty much anything you like, including leftover vegetables. Eat it right away or freeze it in serving sized containers. Bring it to lunch or pull it out for supper and microwave it until hot. You can finish it with a little butter or cream, or use olive oil, if you like. Julia Child encouraged experimentation with the ingredients. Perhaps, she suggested, you may create une spécialité de la maison, and the recipe will become a closely guarded family secret.
3 or 4 potatoes sliced
3 or 4 onions or leeks thinly sliced
2 quarts water
1 T salt
Bring the first four ingredients to a boil, turn the heat down, and let it simmer for 40 to 50 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Stir occasionally.
Mash the vegetables or puree them in a blender.
Reheat the puree just to boiling and add any vegetable you like, cut in even cubes. So far I've used broccoli, cauliflower, corn, mushrooms, carrots, and potatoes either alone or in combination. Simmer for 10 min.
Just Before Serving, Finish the Soup
2 to 3 T chopped parsley
4 to 6 T or more cream or 2 to 3 T butter
Stir in the cream or butter and sprinkle with the parsley.
If you don't have parsley, don't worry. I just finished eating a mug of this soup with cauliflower and butter added at the end. I was out of parsley, but I didn't mind.
Derived from Potage Parmentier (Leek or Onion and Potato Soup)
From the book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 by Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle, and Julia Child
Serves 6 to 8