Soup Stories #21: Vichyssoise for a hot day / 暑い日のヴィシソワーズ

Speaking of cold soups on a hot day, I have written about Spanish gazpacho in the past in this series. I would love to write about a green gazpacho that uses avocado, but I'll save that for when it gets even hotter 😉

This time I will write about vichyssoise, a cold potato soup. Smooth and refreshing, it is the perfect soup for summer. I thought Vichyssoise was a French soup, but it was from the US. It got its name because it was invented by a chef from the Vichy region of France.

Vichyssoise - Wikipedia

The first time I made vichyssoise was at a cooking class I took with my cousin. My aunt and mother sent us out, even though we were children. Unfortunately, I don't have the recipe from that time, but I have fond memories of ordering it with my mother at a restaurant and making it on my own.

On hot summer days, I like to reduce the cooking steps as much as possible and spend less time of using stoves. Pressure cookers and blenders are useful in such cases, and here I will introduce an easy going recipe using them. I also used soy milk instead of heavy cream to make it lighter.

Ingredients 2 servings

The ingredients are really simple; you need only three vegetables.

1 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil
1 garlic clove
1 onion
2 tablespoons white wine
3 medium potatoes
400 ml bouillon (some tricks for those who don't have bouillon below)
200 ml soy milk
Salt for frying and adjusting the taste
Parsley or chives (for garnish): a few sprigs

Directions

Peel and cut the onion and garlic into pieces. Since they will be put in a blender at the end, it is OK to just slice them roughly in the same size so that they cook evenly.
Melt butter in a pressure cooker (a regular pot will also work but takes longer). I used vegan butter this time I had from test cooking.
Saute onions and garlic with pinch salt until softened.
In parallel, peel and slice the potatoes.
Add the white wine and let the alcohol evaporate.
Add the potatoes and bouillon. I used bouillon paste dissolved in boiling water. The bouillon paste the recipe by Kajolika, a Japanese wonderful cook in Italy I found on a Japanese blog platform, note. It's in Japanese but you may be able to translate it.
Vegan deliciousness, homemade vegetable bouillon with pumpkin in Paola style, low-sodium version available - Kajolika - note

You don't have bouillon, you can use ready made soup stock, a little soy sauce or white miso, maybe adding boiling water and adjust the taste with salt later works too 😉
Close lid of the pressure cooker. When the pressure comes on, let it cook for about 15 minutes then remove it from the heat and wait for the pressure to drop. If you don't have a pressure cooker, it will take a little longer, but let it cook for 30-40 minutes until the vegetables are really tender. I highly recommend cooking lovers to have one.
When the pressure drops and the temperature drops a little (don't cool down completely), stir the mixture with a blender. If the vegetables are tender enough, it should be quite creamy without straining.
Add soy milk and stir further to cool. In this way, soy milk doesn't make crumbles like tiny Tofu. So it fits well with cold soup.
Serve cold or slightly chilled with a sprinkle of chives or parsley.

The glass dish I used is the one I found in an exchange shelf. I thought about using it to serve ice cream for my daughter. It works well for this kind of soup.

On a hot day, this soup might be enough for one meal at least for me. But my partner is not a fan of cold soups, so what should I do? I may just heat it up ... then it turns to be really winter-ish soup though 😅

Let's stay cool with easy to make and eat soup yet nourishing 😊

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Hive Blogの宣伝がてらHiveとnoteをつなげてみたくて、あと、過去に書いた記事を探しやすくしたくて、しばらくこのシリーズの日本語部分のメインのテキストはnoteに書いてみようと思います。読みにくくてごめんなさい 🙏

暑い季節に元気がなくても作りやすくて、バテていても食べやすいヴィシソワーズ、ぜひお試しあれ！

ヴィシソワーズ - 暑い日に時短・簡単・食べやすいジャガイモの冷製スープ