Potage Crecy

 “Eat soup first and eat it last, and live till a hundred years be past.”

     ——French Proverb

In general I don’t think of carrots being very fancy, something to munch on, something to add to a dish to enhance the flavor, but there are quite a few carrot soups that I find “very fancy”.  My mother never made carrot soup (although she was a carrot fanatic in many, many ways, that is another story) so I never had it until I went to France, thank you “France”.  This one is very rich and I was lucky to get really great carrots this week.  Crecy has the reputation in France as having the best carrots in the whole country.  However, our carrots here in America will have to do.  A coincidence that #Soupweek arranged by Chef Robin White (www.chefrobinwhite.com) (or on Twitter as @canapes45) was having a wonderful week of tantalizing soups that I also received a cookbook, “Twelve Months of Monastery Soups”.  Thank you Chef Robin that you are only doing eight days, as this book will last anyone a lifetime of soups!  And the history of this soup, as in folklore is the stories of “The Battle of Crecy”, but you don’t want any more stories you want to “eat soup”.

Potage Crecy (French Carrot Soup)

From Wikipedia: Potage: (from Old French pottage; “potted dish”) a category of thick soups, stews, or porridges in some of which meat and vegetables are boiled together with water until they form into a thick mush.

Ingredients

• 10 Carrots (washed, peeled, sliced thinly)
• 1 Potato (washed, peeled, sliced thinly)
• 1 Onion (peeled, sliced thinly)
• 8 C. Vegetable Stock (or water)
• Optional (if using water, add 1 cube vegetable bouillon)
• 1 T. Tomato Paste
• 1 T. Unsalted Butter
• 1 t. Sugar
• Salt
• Freshly Ground Pepper
• 2 T. Heavy Cream
• 3 T. Fresh Parsley (chopped) 

Preparation

1. Put carrots, potato and onion in the pot, add stock, tomato paste butter and sugar
2. Stir well and cook slowly covered over low heat for approximately 1 hour
3. When vegetables are done (tender) blend with an immersion blender (original recipe strains, monks don’t have immersion blender)
4. Slowly reheat the soup just prior to serving and add additional salt, pepper to taste
5. Just prior to serving add the heavy cream and stir thoroughly
6. Serve the soup in warmed bowls
7. Garnish with fresh parsley

(Serves 6)

Adapted from the book “Twelve Months of Monastery Soups” by Broher Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette

A contribution to Chef Robin White’s #Soupweek (October 2-9, 2010).  If you would like to participate or just enjoy all the soup recipes visit her site at www.chefrobinwhite.com and find all the details.