h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

An entry on soups would not be complete without mentioning this exquisite, delicious, versatile, french, cold soup. The pronounciation is as follows: Vee-shee-so-AHZ. It's sometimes also called Spring Soup, because it's eaten cold to celebrate the comming of the warm seasons... Enough of socio-cultural aspects. Here comes the recipe:

You need (approx. for 3-4 people):

1/8 kg Shallots
3-5 Leeks (just the white part)
250g soft potatoes

1.5 litres of beef or chicken broth.

100ml cream (alternatively: 125g Butter & 100ml Milk)

Optionals: Wine (1/2 cup), Salt, Pepper, Nutmeg, Chives.

How to do it:

Cut the vegetables into little pieces (cooks faster) and boil them in the broth till they're soft. Let it cool a little and then mash it all. Cool it down. Now you have a creamy whitish goo. Add the rest (Butter, Milk, Cream, Optionals) ad gustum and stir well. Put the stuff into the refrigerator, and voilá. (This all can be done in 45 minutes flat). The chives are merely optical decoration when serving.

Eats well with white (cool) wine and baguettes, on the veranda of a mansion or on a picknick by a brook. Sunny days are ideal.

Bye,

HELL

Just thought you MIGHT be interested to know that the soup is named after the town of Vichy in France - a famous spa, from which the name "Spring Soup" more likely originates, since the original recipes call from water from the local spring.
More useless information where that comes from!
Best regards,
Petersid

Classically considered to be, essentially, cold leek and potato soup. Sorry, I prefer my leek and potato warm and thick - a winter soup!