Spinach Vichyssoise

The hardest thing about making spinach vichyssoise is spelling the word vichyssoise.  I have been down the vichyssoise road before, and honestly, that’s the thing that always gives me pause.  Not the making of this cool, creamy, bursting with early summer flavor soup.  Nope, the fact that one day I will be sitting in front of my computer wanting to tell you all about it, and dreading the fact that I will have to type out V I S H Y S S O I S E approximately triple the number of times you will actually read it, because of all the back-spacing and correcting.  But since YOU will probably not have to type it out once, this whole experience is going to be delectably easy and delicious!  Here’s why.

Traditional vichyssoise is a cold potato soup that I associate with the Mad Men era days of my youth.  I seem to remember dinner parties that my parents threw that involved stacks of Simon and Garfunkel and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass albums on the stereo, and me and my brother passing around platters of rumaki appetizers, and bowls of cool and creamy vichyssoise.  (Whoo-hoo, my spell-check just kicked in, and is helping me spell vichyssoise!)

Anyway, as a result of those warm and fuzzy memories, I wander down the vichyssoise road from time to time, and this time I decided to throw in a few other veggies to keep the potatoes company.  Fresh spinach gives it that gorgeous green color and a kick of flavor, along with some leeks.

I love the gentler than onion taste that leeks give to soups and stews – just enough to give things a little tang without taking over the joint.

The other thing I love about this particular soup is that you can serve it the traditional way, chilled down for a few hours in the fridge, or if the weather suddenly turns from the high 80’s to the mid-60’s, you can warm it right up.  One way or the other, I like to drop a little dollop of sour cream on top before I serve it, along with a sprinkling of shallots for a little zing.

So vichyssoise away my friends!  As long as you don’t have to spell it, you’ll have the best time!

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Spinach Vichyssoise

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Spinach vichyssoise gives a little green summertime spin to this classic cold soup.

• Author: Kate Jackson
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings
• Category: Lunch
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: French

Ingredients

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• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 leeks, white and light green part only, rinsed and chopped
• 3 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into roughly 2 inch chunks
• 3 cups milk
• 4 cups spinach, washed and chopped (if you use baby spinach, no chopping needed!)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Sour cream and chopped scallions for garnish

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Instructions

1. Place butter in a large pot and melt over medium high heat. Add leeks and stir until softened, about 3-5 minutes.
2. Add milk and potatoes and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot, turn the heat down and cook until the potatoes are soft, about 20-30 minutes.
3. Add the spinach and stir until it is wilted.
4. Pour the mixture into a blender and blend until smooth (you may need to do this in batches).
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper. At this point you can serve it hot, you can let it cool to room temperature, or you can chill it in the fridge for a couple of hours.
6. Ladle soup into bowls, garnish with sour cream and scallions and serve.

Notes

If you are serving the soup hot, let the sour cream come to room temperature before garnishing. Otherwise you can use it cool straight from the fridge.