Spork or Foon?

Whisk Wednesdays: Velouté Agnès Sorel (Cream of Chicken Soup)

I love trying to pronounce these names:Vehlooote Agnis Sorrul.  That's how I say it.  The French would poo poo me right away. When in Paris during college, I was trying to communicate with the local barrista.  He spoke French (obviously), I, English (same).  But we both spoke Italian.  So we tried to communicate in Italian.  We would have had better luck speaking in our own languages.  The Italians are strong on the r's (pronounced eh-re), the French  swallow their r's.

I'm sure that was super interesting to you.

I'm loving learning about these soups. I used to fear warm liquids as a youngster. No more, I say! There is something so warm and comforting about a thick, hot soup going right down on a cold, rainy day.  Now, it's around 90-100 degrees here, so I'm done with that.  My next step: Cold Soup. Gazpacho really freaks me out, but I am oddly drawn to a great gazpacho recipe I found online.  We'll see.

This soup was deliciously creamy.  Rich. And pasty white. My pictures aren't so good.  The soup, on the other hand, was.  I'm not going to lie, however. I totally cheated. I had to add a roux so that my soup would thicken. To be honest, I was very distracted the whole time I was cooking, on top of the fact that I had cut down the recipe to one serving.  Do you know how hard it is to measure 1/6 of 2 egg yolks?  I'm sure there is an easy way, but I couldn't wrap my distracted mind around it at the time.  Eek.  And then I julienned carrots to add into the soup. Yeah. Not really included in the recipe this time around.  I was going to throw them in for some color. I did. It did not taste good. BUT I took them out and VIOLA`! (pronounced Vie-oh-la).  Good as new!

I need a new camera and a new "set".  Hopefully, one day, my pics will look like Shari's!  Aur Reservoir!

YUCK to the carrots!

Julienne Darblay (Creamed Leek and Potato Soup with Julienned Vegetables)

I can't believe it.  I just wrote the longest. post. ever. and it got deleted! I have to breathe.  And start over again!

First off, I just want to thank Shari of Whisk: a food blog for opening me into the group with welcome arms! Also, thank you so much to Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table for being so kind as to taking the time to write up the recipe for me while I waited for my book to arrive!  At the risk of sounding super sappy (yes, this is super sappy), I am really loving the blogging community and these cooking groups.  Although most of us have never met, there is such a sense of community and support and I feel like I have made some friends.  Sure, I have to increase my time in the gym every week (and I've actually lost weight since I started doing all of this. I don't get it) and I have had to incorporate a cheat day, but I'm happy and I'm learning and I'm doing what I love.

Maybe one day we'll all get together, armed with our favorite recipe, and actually get to taste what we read about each week. And then gain 10 pounds.

Shari had a great idea.  She wanted to attend culinary school, but you know, wasn't really in the mood to spend $60,000 while doing it.  Maybe next time. So she decided to make her way through Le Cordon Bleu at Home one Wednesday at a time.  Since I don't feel like spending $60,000 right now either (maybe next time), after spending twice that to get my Bachelor's Degree in Acting from Syracuse University (Note to everyone: I fully agree that a Bachelors and a Masters degree should be considered an investment.  A Bachelor's Degree in Acting... mmm... not so much.), I joined forces with Shari and the rest of the Whisk Wednesday bloggers.

This week, we had Julienne Darblay (Creamed Leek and Potato Soup with Julienned Vegetables).  I have missed several lessons (which I fully intend on catching up on), but I see that each recipe probably incorporates what has already been learned. For example, I see at least four lessons in this one:

1. Julienne
2. Chicken Stock
3. Bouquet Garni
4. The Actual Soup

I have tried to julienne before. It wasn't successful. Why, you ask? Well, because I used to be impatient and not look things up. So I just cut stuff into small pieces and called it art.  This time, I am following the RULES! So, I learned that a julienne is a matchstick cut that is around 1/8" thick and 2" high. So off I cut. It took me about 3 1/2 years to finish, but I finally made it. Sadly, it made me realize that my days of stardom on Top Chef are not quite here yet, since I have no knife skills.  Kind of like Casey of last season who took about 3 1/2 years to finely dice her onions. So maybe there is hope for me, yet? 

No?

The Luck of the Irish.

I actually had made chicken stock from an Alice Water's recipe, so I did not attempt this one. But be sure, I will go back and make it! Follow the RULES!

Next: Bouquet Garni.  I did not have kitchen twine. My boyfriend suggested I just throw it all in there (he loves to cook as well, but does not follow the rules. Shame.). I wanted to do it right! So I took one leek green, stuffed it with the herbs, closed it like a jacket and tied it closed with another leek green. Um. It worked!

MacGyver couldn't have done a better job.

While the potatoes and leeks were simmering, I cooked the carrots and turnips (which I have never had before, and they kind of taste like nothing, but are super healthy, so no complaints here) in salted water. I always salt my macaroni (pasta) when boiling but I never never done that to anything else. I must say, it really adds a delicious and subtle pop of flavor. I did the same for the leek greens and was awed by the rich color of all three, and by the fact that you can eat leek greens. Who knew?

I pureed the potato and leek mixture but I must have done somethign wrong, because the recipe says to squeeze the liquids from the solids through a seive. I had no solids. Ummm?? 

Whatever! The flavor was delicious!  Maybe it should have been thicker? I don't know. Should it have been? Anyone?  It still was so phenomenal, and I was pleased to learn that it wasn't that bad for you- there was not much cream per serving.

We had this with salad (roasted peach and prosciutto with watercress) and a panini (brie, basil, and dark chocolate) and capped it off with Dorie's pudding. We wanted a long dinner, and we got one. It was delicious, creamy, and I learned a lot in the process! 

I think me and Le Cordon Bleu at Home are going to get along just fine.

Check out the rest of the group here.