Cream Vichyssoise Glacée

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             FOOD FUNNY
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Thanks to my friend Irene DiCaprio in New Haven, Connecticut for this one:

A woman in a grocery store happens upon a grandfather and his poorly
behaving three-year-old grandson. At every turn, it is obvious that
grandpa has his hands full with the kid screaming for candy in the candy
aisle, cookies in the cookie aisle; same for fruit, cereal and soda.
Meanwhile grandpa is working his way around, saying in a controlled
voice, "Easy Alvin, we won't be long, easy boy."

Another outburst and she hears grandpa calmly say, "It's OK Alvin, just
a couple more minutes and we'll be outta here, hang in there."

At the checkout, the little terror is throwing items from the cart and
grandpa again in a controlled voice says, "Alvin, Alvin, relax buddy,
don't get upset -- we'll be home in five minutes; stay cool, Alvin."

Very impressed, the woman goes up to grandpa as he's loading the kid and
the groceries into the car and says, "You know sir, it's none of my
business, but you were amazing in there. I don't know how you did it.
The whole time you kept your composure and no matter how loud and
disruptive he got, you just calmly kept saying things would be OK. Alvin
is very lucky to have you for his grandpa."

"Thanks, lady," said grandpa, "but I'M Alvin - the little monster's name is Johnny."

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             TODAY'S RECIPE
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You might have thought that Vichyssoise was a French dish, and so did I.
Actually, its roots are French but it was created about 1917 at the New
York Ritz-Carlton Hotel by Chef Louis Diat. Chef Diat modeled it after a
leek and potato soup his mother used to serve when he was growing up in
a town near Vichy, France. According to Jean Anderson in her excellent
"The American Century Cookbook" the name was almost changed to "Creme
Gauloise" during World War II when a group of chefs in the USA voted to
change it as a protest against the Vichy government of France. Here is
the recipe almost exactly as it was printed by Chef Diat in his 1941cookbook "Dining a la Ritz."

Cream Vichyssoise Glacée

4 leeks, white part
1 medium onion
4 Tbs (60 ml) sweet butter
5 medium potatoes
1 qt (1 L) water or chicken broth
1 Tbs (15 ml) salt
2 cups (500 ml) milk
2 cups (500 ml) medium cream
1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream
Chives, finely chopped, for garnish (optional)

Finely slice the white parts of the leeks and the onion, and brown very
lightly in the sweet butter, then add the potatoes, also sliced finely.
Add the water or broth and salt. Boil from 35 to 40 minutes. Crush and
rub through a fine strainer. Return to fire and add the milk and medium
cream. Season to taste and bring to a boil. Cool and then rub through a
very fine strainer. When soup is cold add the heavy cream. Chill
thoroughly before serving. Finely chopped chives may be added before serving.
Serves 8.
Received on Sun May 17 19:17:50 2009