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Soup Recipes

Puree of Carrot Soup

From The Making of a Cook by Madeleine Kamman. 1982. (There are several newer editions available, but I don’t know if this recipe is included in the new editions.)

This book is highly recommended for those who want to know more than how to assemble ingredients. Kamman, goes beyond simple recipes and tells her readers how to cook creatively.

The original recipe

Makes 6 servings

“Make this nice and peppery or it will be too feminine for the gentlemen. Do not use an electric blender: if the rice is allowed to cool even a little, blending makes it gummy and the soup sill be filmy."

Ingredients

1 Large onion, chopped
4 Tablespoons butter
1 Pound carrots, shredded
5 Cups chicken stock
1/3 Cup uncooked rice
3 Shallots, minced
1 teaspoon dried chervil, or 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
Salt and pepper
3/4 Cup heavy cream
1/4 Cup sour cream
1/4 Teaspoon grated nutmeg

Sauté the onion in butter until soft. Add carrots and toss over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add rice, shallots, chervil or parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 30 minutes, until the carrots fall apart and the rice is overcooked. Puree through a tamis or conical strainer. Bring back to boil and blend in the creams. Reheat until very warm, but do not boil because boiling would alter the taste of the cream Correct seasoning, add nutmeg, and serve.”

Max’s notes:

The Making of a Cook is an excellent cookbook and I recommend at least the 1982 edition that I am using. It is unfortunate that the author uses sexist phrases like “Make this nice and peppery or it will be too feminine for the gentlemen.” The truth is the that this recipe is not gender specific. There are other soup recipes in this book that are well worth trying including the Mushroom Veloute.

The number of servings that this recipe produces is about a third less than stated. For example to serve 10 people I quadrupled the recipe.

Using a blender works just fine if you use slow cooking rice. I have no doubt that using a type of rice that cooks in a minute would create a gummy soup. I have used standard blenders and the Vita-Mix blender and both work equally well. The Vita-Mix is convenient because of its large capacity.

Use white pepper instead of black pepper.

It is not necessary to use heavy cream. Two percent milk works equally well.

The sour cream may be replaced with a low fat or no fat sour cream.

What is important is to carefully control the amount of heat applied to the pot. A non-stick surfaced pot works best. Do not burn the soup.

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