French Food Files: Potage Crécy aka Carrot Soup

I have this big beautiful French cookbook.

I've never used it.

Yesterday I cracked it open, came across this recipe

And decided to serve dinner french style - one dish at a time. I've done this before and it's actually pretty fun, it makes dinner last a little longer and, for some reason, I feel stuffed after eating this way more than if everything was on the same plate.

Today I'm  participating in Everyday Tastes linking party called It's a Keeper. Since the first posting I have also found Delicious Dishes hosted by It's a Blog Party and Friday Potluck hosted by EKat's Kitchen. I look forward to checking out these new sites, participating in the parties and coming across new and exciting recipes!

Oh, by the way...I'll be focusing on french food for the rest of the month and trying out two other recipes from the book - stay tuned!

Potage Crécy
courtesy France The Beautiful Cookbook
adapted by me!

2 oz butter
1 onion - finely chopped
2 leeks - whites only, thinly sliced
2 qts water
2 lbs carrots - peeled and cut into slices
salt and pepper - to taste
1/3 cup long grain rice - or 1-2 potatoes
6 tablespoons heavy cream

total: $5 - had everything but carrots, leeks and cream.
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Melt 1/2 the butter in a heavy saucepan, then add the onions and leeks and cook until golden.

The produce store did not have leeks so.....I improvised and used green onions. I sliced the white part, with a little green and added 6 (small!) cloves of garlic (finely chopped).

After the onions etc, are golden add the water.

Bring to a boil then add the carrots.

Cook 30 minutes on low heat or until carrots are softened.

Then transfer to a food processor (or in my case blender) and blend until mixture is creamy.

Put back in pot, bring back to a boil then add the rice or potatoes. If using potatoes, peel and chop into small pieces. (I only used 1 medium sized potato).

Cook until potato (or rice) is softened (or cooked). Then stir in rest of butter and the cream. Serve immediately.

Taste: The first couple of spoonfuls were very earthy and it tasted a lot like potato soup. After it sat for a bit the cream and butter blended in and then it was very creamy but light. A perfect summer soup actually. The whole fam liked this except for Picky Pants but she did eat it with only a little complaint (hey, that's an improvement!) I took a census and the verdict is: It's a keeper!!

Then The Hubs made barbequed hamburgers, seasoned with a dash of soy sauce, red pepper flakes and a dash of Baby Ray's barbeque sauce.

Yummy! (we added tomato, pickle, ketchup & mustard)

After the soup the burgers were very savory and juicy, everyone liked 'em!

Then we had barbequed corn on the cob. The Hubs put a pat of butter on each cob before wrapping in tinfoil and throwing it in on the 'que.

Again, success!! (salt and pepper and more butter to taste) After the savory burgers this was salty and a perfect compliment.

Last course was good 'ol chocolate pudding which The Hubs had made earlier then refrigerated.

ok, ok...tastes better than it looks.

This is a fun way to do dinner and it slows the pace down a bit.

I like trying new recipes, I like it when nothing has burned but even better....I love it when the kids eat it all up!

relax,
paulina

p.s. phew...that's a lot of parties...what can I say, I'm a sociable girl!! (Ha!) If you like to cook or do crafts check out these new links :)