Potage Crécy
A handful of basic ingredients—carrots, potatoes, leeks, stock, fresh thyme and cream—proves once again that the French are masters of sublime simplicity, in this colorful, subtle soup.
Servings 4 cups (3 to 4 first-course servings)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 leek, white and tender green parts, rinsed and sliced (see Kitchen Notes)
- 3/4 pounds carrots, about 5 or 6, diced
- 3/4 pounds russet or Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
- 2-1/2 cups chicken stock or broth
- 1-1/4 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste (see Kitchen Notes)
- additional fresh thyme leaves, for garnish (or finely chopped flat-leaf parsley—see Kitchen Notes)
Instructions
- Heat a dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat. Melt butter and combine with olive oil. Add leeks and sauté, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Add potatoes and carrots and sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Add thyme, cover the pot and simmer until carrots and potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes. Purée the soup in a food processor, in batches, if necessary. (Alternatively, use a handheld immersion blender in the pot.)
- Return puréed soup to the pot. Add half-and-half, lemon juice and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper to taste [using a light hand, depending on how salty your chicken stock or broth is]. Bring to a simmer until just heated through. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with fresh thyme leaves or parsley. Serve.
Kitchen Notes
Cleaning leeks. Leeks like to grow in sandy soil, so you need to clean them carefully. Slice off root end and most of the green tops. Slice leeks in half lengthwise. Rinse under running water, fanning layers to wash out any trapped grit. When they’re cleaned, slice crosswise in 3/4-inch pieces.
Black pepper? White pepper? Many recipes, including the original for this soup, call for white pepper rather than black. And while white pepper is slightly milder in taste than black, the difference is minimal; the choice is usually based on visual aesthetics, with white pepper being specified for light colored foods. You see this a lot in fish recipes. Personally, I like the look of dark flecks of black pepper on most pale foods—especially with fish, which can otherwise look bland or sickly to me. So it’s your call, but I’m just as happy to stock one kind of peppercorns.
Keep it fresh, garnishwise. As the recipe says, you can substitute dried thyme for fresh in this soup. But if you use dry when cooking it, do not use it for your garnish; opt for chopped fresh parsley instead. The fresh thyme leaves (my first choice) give a delicate, slightly minty taste and a nice little crunch. Dried herbs need to cook in foods to soften and release their flavors; they fail miserably as garnishes.