Beginning a Path of Cooking

I got a little crazy yesterday, like quite a few people before me, I went out and purchased Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking".  Yep, I did it.  The benefit for me here is that I have a path to follow, a set course, rather than floundering around looking for recipes to cook that do not provide skill enhancement or learning opportunities.


So I dove into the book and read through the beginning text.  Pretty mundane, but necessary stuff to cover.  Then the first recipe loomed ahead.


Potage Parmentier - Potato Leek Soup


The recipe is simply written and simple to execute.


Ingredients
4 cups potatoes - peeled
4 cups leek - thinly sliced (equals about 1 full leek)
1 tablespoon salt
2 quarts water


Directions
Dice potatoes and thinly slice the leek.


Simmer potatoes, leek and salt in a medium saucepan for 50 minutes.


Remove from heat, mash vegetables with a fork (or run through food mill).


When ready to serve, spoon in 2 tablespoons of butter or whipping cream.


I drained some of the water out of the soup and ran the remaining vegetables through the KitchenAid stand mixer with the beater attachment.  I'm not sure how pleased I am with the results.


I would like to add that I was able to type the recipe above from memory.  It's good to have recipes in your head, I can't guarantee I will memorize every recipe I come across, but doing this one from memory is pretty darn cool.


I'll admit right here and now, I am not much of a soup eater.  I don't know what it is with soups, they and I just don't mesh.  I tried it, I thought it was quite bland.


Two friends of mine, both of whom (unlike me) are soup eaters) came over, so I forced them to try the soup.  They both said it was great, one even went so far as to lick the bowl clean.  I only managed to shove 1 bowl down them before they had to leave.  Soon after they left, my mother arrived. I had her try some and she said it was one of the best she had had.  My mother is not one to say she likes something if she doesn't.  She's never had a problem saying "That tastes like crap".  She really did like it.  I will be bringing the remain soup to work tomorrow to see how co-workers like it.


Some things to learn from this recipe are this:


1. A solid grounding in the basics of French soup-making


2. How to combine several ingredients to create a very flavorful soup in a minimum amount of time. 


3. The Potage Parmentier is the basis for many, many French soups, so it is important to have this particular soup down to a science.


I would like to think that my skills in the kitchen are a bit beyond this, however, one can't cover the basics enough.  I'm not sure how much by way of skill improvement I received from this particular recipe.  I will be moving on to the variations of the Potage Parmentier that Julia has listed and we will see how they turn out.


Tomorrow, I will attempt to take some photos and see how things go.