On a cold and rainy April day we huddle in to experiment with a hitherto untouched course of the meal- the soup. It’s all we can bear to do. The grey skies have gone on too long.
After a numerous sighs and many long silences in which we stare off, we force open a bottle of wine and decide to give it a try. Here, in this course, we wish to be sober and respectful and create an introduction for Henrietta’s corpse of an entrée and woo the diner into a comfort zone. We need confidence if we are going to pull the diner along with us throughout the course of the meal. Tonight we try a watercress soup for the vibrancy of green foliage in which a poached egg will float – ile flottante. Simple, elegant, distinct and introducing the themes of pastoral bliss as well as the hues of the entree. All good cooks must show respect for tradition and the diner’s experience especially if one w ants to shock them bloody later.
Watercress Soup
tbspish of butter
1/2 yellow onion
shallot
celery
salt
in a pot to soften. Once softened 3 sliced leeks are added. These leeks are flattened, like a leak drawn two dimensional on paper. What is up with this? Is this grown in a box, a skinny rectangular box, for space concerns while being shipped? Odd and untrustworthy. Meanwhile the potatoes are being diced into 1/2 inch cubes. We are using baby dutch yellows today. 1 and 1/2 lbs are added. A splash of venho verde for good luck. After a few good minutes together in the pot and a couple of colorful pictures 6 cups of chicken stock are added.
Two bunches of watercress is a nebulous measurement. A cup of parsley. A shake of Tabasco. And time to ignore it.
Once the potatoes soften the soup is blended until smooth. BZZZZ. And water is begun for the poaching of the egg. The first taste. Hurumph. Springy. Good. And starchy. Tastes like all her soups, so she says. It’s an excellent potato and leek soup but it wants more watercress. Amazing. Is there no limit. 3 bunches next time and less than 5 minutes.
We sit down to a sage soup speckled w/ dark green bits of leaves, a few coils of lemon zest, and an island of egg.
It’s a little gritty and too starchy. Less potatoes please- down to 3/4 lb. Lemon zest works well. It goes on top of the egg. Again, more watercress and less potatoes and less it pop.
Not exactly what we wanted. Until next time.
Sorry for the drollness of this entry. The April weather is wearing.
