We are only eight days from the official start of summer here in the northern hemisphere and with that comes all things summer including visits to the farmer’s markets. If you are like me then you also appreciate making new recipes from all the things that you picked up from the markets, and that is where French From the Market came to be in my personal cookbook library. Released this past March and was also featured in last week’s Curated Weekly, when I came across this cookbook in a local shop I stopped and looked though the recipes and saw many that interested me, especially since this was a cookbook based around markets specifically. The book itself was visually beautiful on the inside as well as out which I always appreciate in cookbooks.
The first recipe I decided to try from the cookbook was the Watercress and Scallion Vichyssoise. If you are unfamiliar with Vichyssoise (pronounced: vi shee swaaz), it is basically a chilled potato and leek soup. This was the perfect recipe to start with as well because the day I made it was on a hot day here in Raleigh where the temperature was around 91F degrees. A chilled soup is such a refreshing meal to have on these hot days of summer and luckily this cookbook offers three recipes in total for chilled soups.
I gathered up all of the ingredients which were six in total and three of them were spices. For me less is more for a day-to-day recipe and this one hit the mark for its simplicity.
I chopped the veggies and added it to my Le Creuset pot along with the chicken broth, nutmeg, salt and white pepper. From there I brought it to a boil, then turned the heat down to let it simmer for 30 minutes. After the veggies were tender, I took it off the heat and let it come to room temperature.
After about an hour of letting it sit, I poured the contents into a large bowl and added the watercress. From there I took my emulsion blender to blend it until smooth. If you do not have an emulsion blender then you can also use a food processor or blender.
Before:
After:
After blending I put on a cover of aluminum foil and then put it in the fridge for 3 hours to cool. After the 3 hours when it’s ready to be served, I whipped up heavy cream just right before stiff peaks would form and then I folded the cream into the soup as the last step for the recipe.
The soup is now ready to be eaten, from here I diced a scallion to add on top and even though the recipe didn’t specifically call for it, I also added some shredded cheese and creme fraiche on top.
The Final Product:
We had the soup with a freshly baked baguette, and we enjoyed the cool, creamy texture of the soup, especially on a hot day. The recipe was simple to follow and as mentioned above, it does not take a lot of ingredients to create something delicious. This is a recipe that I enjoyed putting together as well because there were 3 or 4 basic steps, but because they were spread out over hours, I never felt like I was spending too much time putting it together as each step only took 15 minutes or less. This will be a great recipe to cook up on days where you may have many other tasks scheduled throughout the day.
What I Liked About French From The Market:
-Beautiful pictures of the food as well as the French Markets.
-Recipes that are delicious and simple to put together.
-Many categories to choose from.
-Recipes based on foods that one would find in the markets.
-Chilled soup recipes.
-A beautiful cover.
-Fun little excerpts before each category.
-Converted to Imperial measurements of cups for ease of use for U.S. markets.
There are many French cookbooks on the market that one can purchase, and I do not purchase all of them simply because they are French. I like to be discerning and only get those where I am interested in doing the recipes inside of them. I was lucky to have found two books this year and I have already used At theTable in Paris a few times already. I am very much looking forward to using French From the Market as well, especially for the summer months.
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