Parsley Soup (Simon Hopkinson)

[outRIAAge]

Parsley Soup (Simon Hopkinson)​

This soup is one of the most surprsing things I've ever made. I have described it as: "parsley, as imagined by God." It comes from "Roast Chicken and Other Stories," which one British reviewer quite reasonably declared the most useful cookbook of all time. It contains six ingredients, but that's misleading, because the parsley is prepared in three different ways.

Again this is a clean rip-off of the original, which I doubt could be improved on. If there is some sad, wannabee replacement for cream somewhere, it could even be made vegan. It comes together quickly, and I've even served it the next day chilled as parsley mousse. Fresh, springy broad-leafed Italian parsley is essential. I often substitute chicken for vegetable stock in recipes. That would be a dreadful mistake here, but a mild dashi might work well. A few unseasoned croutons on top would provide a nice texture change.

butter – 75g
2 leeks – white parts – sliced (being a cheap Scot, I include the bright green internal parts, too, and they do no harm)
2 large bunches of well-washed Italian broad-leaved parsley, separating the stalks from the leaves.
1 large potato – chopped
vegetable stock – 750 ml (I honestly don't know a good commercial version; water would be better)
s & p
double cream – 150 ml

Melt the butter in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the chopped leeks and the parsley stalks and sweat uncovered for 20 minutes.
Add the potato and stock and simmer for a further 20 minutes. Add half of the parsley leaves (roughly chopped) and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile blanch the remaining parsley leaves in vigorously boiling water for 30 seconds, remove and immediately cool with ice water or a cold running tap. Squeeze out as much water as you can using a clean tea towel (dishcloth)
Remove the soup from the heat, add the squeezed parsley and liquidize with an immersion blender.

Force the soup through a fine sieve into another saucepan (don't skip this step!), return to the heat, add the cream and season to taste.

 

[LizStreithorst]

This sounds very good. I adore the flavor of parsley. As hot is it is down south here right now it would be better chilled. Perhaps this weekend...

 

[erehweslefox]

You kind of had me at leeks. I love them, they remind me of ramps when I have the time to forage. And no the green parts do little harm at all.

I know OutRIAAge, you will get Darina's cookbook, and we will start some darn epic threads. Will come to pass.

 

[outRIAAge]

I know OutRIAAge, you will get Darina's cookbook, and we will start some darn epic threads. Will come to pass.

Given that the cookbook will be here Thursday, those threads will indeed come to pass (but possibly not until I've read it cover-to-cover).

 

[Dawgluver]

This recipe interests me greatly. Thanks for posting!

 

[outRIAAge]

After I posted the recipe, I got to thinking about vegetable stock and how dreadful commercial versions are. Unless I'm making my own stock, I use Better Than Bullion beef, chicken, fish, and seafood bases because they are excellent.

Has anybody used any of their meatless stock-bases? They make vegetable, mushroom, "no-chicken" and "no-beef" varieties. The mushroom one looks great, but has anybody used their vegetable one?

 

[Dawgluver]

Many of us here are huge fans of BTB meat and seafood stocks. I have not tried the veggie stocks.

 

[LizStreithorst]

I've never made vegetable stock in my life. I make my own chicken and seafood stock and I know that store bought does not compare. I will make it for this soup.

I looked up how to make a good veggie stock. I will freeze the rest. I can use it in other soups and stews that call for water.

I'm so looking forward to making this. I do not have an immersion blender. I will make do with my food processor.

 

[larry_stewart]

Th problem I have with veggie stock, is that , at least ( In general, sure I know there are variations, but..) Beef is Beef and Chicken is Chicken ..., with veggies, the stock is has an extremely different taste depending on which vegetables and how many of which vegetable you put it in. Being vegetarian, Ive made probably hundreds of stocks over my lifetime. All tasted good, but all were different. And that can lead to a completely different end result to whatever recipe you are using it for.

Sure, you can follow a vegetable stock recipe, but there are hundreds of them. So I guess if you find one you like and stick with it, then your recipes will be consistent. But many of the recipes call for hand full of different herbs, so you have to pick one with the same flavor profile as to what recipe you are adding it too.

I guess what Im trying to say, is that even after having a recipe for vegetable stock, you still have to find out/ or figure out which veggie stock suits the recipe best.

What I can say, which is kind of obvious, is that mushrooms, onions and garlic will dominate, and change the taste of the vegetable stock significantly, which is not a bad thing, just make sure its what you're looking for before you add them and how much you add of them.

As for the Better Than Bullion, I have tried the vegetable stock, and I think the fake chicken one. they weren't bad, and sure they add consistency to what you may cook ( assuming you use it all the time). The problem I had with it, is aside from the basic taste, it also had that taste of something that has been cooked down for a long time, which isn't a bad taste, but not always what Im looking for.

What I usually use is one of those bullion powder stuff, that is supposed to taste like chicken, but is vegetarian. I like it cause it adds consistency to what I've been making for decades. It may not be perfect, but at least I know what Im getting myself into when I use it. Problem with vegetarian products ( more so in the past than now due to its popularity) is that they the products often get discontinued, so any vegetarian cooking product I use, I usually have to find an alternate just in case the first one ever gets discontinued.

Having a large garden, and using vegetables all the time, I do make vegetable stock with the scraps, and rarely is it ever the same, as I put in the stock whatever scraps are in the kitchen or garden. But Ill usually use it when Im making a throw together vegetable soup, or maybe when Im experimenting with a sauce of some kind.

What Jacques Pepin does is every time he is cooking, and has leftover vegetable scraps, he puts them in a container and stores it in the freezer. Them when he accumulates enough, he then makes a stock out of it, this way, he always has something on hand to use.

 

[Aunt Bea]

This soup sounds nice.

I don't understand the two step process used to cook the parsley, why can't it all go directly into the soup?

If I need a vegetable stock with some body I use a version of the Golden Broth recipe found in an old copy of "Laurel's Kitchen" by Laurel Robertson, Carol Flinders, and Bronwen Godfrey.

1 medium onion roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
1T oil
1/4 cup yellow or green split peas
1/4 t turmeric
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1 T apple cider vinegar
S&P to taste.
1 quart water

Slowly saute the chopped onion and garlic in oil until it begins to take on color, add the split peas, spices and water, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until the peas are tender, puree in the blender until smooth.

You can add other vegetables, a potato, tomato, carrot etc...

 

[di reston]

If it's a Simon Hopkinson recipe it'll be darn good. In the UK he is very highly regarded by other British chefs of high repute, and well worth looking at.

di reston

Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde

 

[outRIAAge]

I don't understand the two step process used to cook the parsley, why can't it all go directly into the soup?

Neither did I, but I greatly respect Simon Hopkinson, so I had the sense to follow along blindly. The blanching step? I'm sure it's partially for the brilliant colour it adds, but probably also for the pure, uncooked jolt of parsley flavour it adds.

Further thoughts on a good stock for this. The first time I made it, I substituted chicken stock like I normally do, but it added the familiar old flavour that just didn't belong. The veggie-stock versions people have suggested all seem to add more than needed. Second time I made it, I completely ad-libbed by sweating the Louisiana Holy Trinity (onion, celery, green pepper) in butter then adding water, carrot and celery tops, and celeriac root-peelings. It hit the spot nicely, but as it was (and is) my only attempt at veggie stock, I was a little shy about mentioning it.

 

[taxlady]

...

What Jacques Pepin does is every time he is cooking, and has leftover vegetable scraps, he puts them in a container and stores it in the freezer. Them when he accumulates enough, he then makes a stock out of it, this way, he always has something on hand to use.

That's what I do too. When the container is full, I make the stock. I don't season it until I'm going to use it. I have one of those silicone muffin "tins". I fill that and freeze it. Then I pop out the chunks of stock and store those in a Ziplock in the freezer. I just grab a few for lots of things I'm cooking.