Collaborator Soup

I love southern springs. Warm, blooming and delightful. Since we're in an apartment for the next few months I make every effort to take James to the park as much as possible. We live five minutes from a fantastic one- Westgate Park in Dothan, Alabama.  The park has three miles of bike and running trails through the woods, a swimming complex, baseball fields, soccer fields, tennis courts. You get the idea. If you ever end up stationed at Fort Rucker I highly encourage you to live in Dothan, about 20 minutes east of base, and commute.

So, this morning we took James out on his mini glider bike. (Five starts for this product, its taught my less-than-two year old how to totally balance on a two wheeled bike. You can buy them here-  Mini Glider). We wandered onto the baseball complex and he scooted around the bases on it, we found a ladybug, we splashed some puddles.... then we tried to leave. Tried. Someone had locked the gate behind us, leaving one very pregnant woman, one toddler on glide bike and, thank god, one husband, stranded in a complex surrounded by nine foot chain link fence. If you know me and you're reading this there really should be no surprise at what happened next. I  and my massive belly climbed up it, threw a leg across and climbed down the other side. Then I got the minivan, carefully drove it over a large curb and across a really nicely manicured lawn up to the fence, climbed out the sunroof and stood up on top of the minivan as John handed me James and the bike. Victory! Rescue operation complete. 

It was 80degrees by that point. I'm 35 weeks pregnant. I was hot.... and of course hungry. The air smelled like summer, and summer means cold soup. Clearly the best cold soup in the entire world is Vichyssoise. If you've never had it the simplest way to describe it is cold potato soup, but really its so much more than that. Its creamy, mild and rich. It must be served freezing cold with fresh chives on top.   This recipe was discovered by my mother over two decades ago in the Craig Claiborne NY Times Cookbook: 

4 leeks, sliced white part only

1 medium onion, sliced

4 tablespoons butter

5 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

4 cups chicken stock

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups milk

2 cups cream

chopped chives

In a deep kettle, brown the leeks and onions and leeks lightly in the butter. Add the potatoes, stock and salt and boil 35 minutes. 

Add the milk and one cup of the cream, stir and return to a boil (carefully, its easy scorch at this point) 

Place the soup in a bowl in the refrigerator until chilled. When you're ready to serve it add the last cup of cream and sprinkle with chives. 

Tonight I'm serving it with these Pork Chops with Norman Cream Sauce. I've never tried them and I certainly don't have fancy french cider, so we're trying Strongbow cider. I'll let you know how it goes. 

Why Collaborator Soup? Because John thinks its funny: Vichy, France. Just don't expect to laugh ;)