Turnip Veloute with Pistachios, Lemon, and Parsley
Do you have any favorite cookbooks that inspire you again and again, the photos, the stories, the use of certain ingredients, recipes whose mere perusing makes you sigh in a quiet comforting sort of way?
Many times I’ll never even make a specific dish from among these much loved cookbooks but just slowly turning the pages lends a sort of calm breathing in the possibilities.
On occasion a fabulous dish will catch my eye upon which I’ll stand up carefully close the books cover, and gleefully think to myself. I’m going to make that!
Often times, the ‘that’s it’ barely resembles the initial inspiration of the recipe, but in the case of a recent dinner party with the exception of some adaptation well, maybe some big omission the overall soup served exquisitely as a second course to the meal.
The creamy, velvety, Turnip Veloute, (an accent over the e) with Pistachio, Lemon and Parsley goes by a slightly different name in the cookbook, Fresh From The Market, Seasonal Cooking with Laurent Tourondel and Charlotte March.
Though I do not speak French, I do have a basic understanding on the terminology of many foods and dishes in French cuisine.
Precise pronunciations, I leave to my next door neighbor, who is from France.
The word Veloute loosely means velvety, a velvety sauce, or soup. There are some specific veloute sauces and soups prepared with their own specific names, cooked with broths, then combined with perhaps a roux, and, or, combined with cream and egg yolks, though each ultimately produce velvety, creamy finishes.
Delicate flavors. Velvety perfection.
Voile, turnips, leeks, onions, celery, carrots, butter, broth, salt and pepper. A silky, velvety smooth, Turnip Veloute with Pistachios, Lemon, and Parsley drizzles each bowl to a luscious finale.
Turnip Veloute with Pistachios, Lemon, and Parsley
Notes
Best prepared the day before, then simmered to hot just before serving with accompaniments.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, sliced 1/4 inch thick
- 2 thin leeks, white and light green parts only
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 pounds turnips, approximately, peeled and rough chopped
- Bouquet Garni, 1 green leek leaf, 3 fresh thyme sprigs, and 1 bay leaf, tied together
- 10 cups chicken stock, homemade preferred
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more seasoned to taste
- 1 teaspoon cracked pepper
- 1 cup heavy cream, optional
- Accompaniments:
- 1 small size turnip, peeled, very, very thinly sliced, then cut in half
- 8 teaspoons pistachios, shelled, chopped, and lightly toasted
- 3-4 teaspoons parsley, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons lemon rind, finely sliced and chopped
Instructions
- On very low temperature heat a soup or cast iron enameled pot, add in the butter
- Stir in the onion, celery, leeks and garlic continuing to cook on very low temperature until vegetables become well softened, about ten minutes
- Add in the turnips, stir throughout then set in the bouquet garni
- Continue cooking until turnips begin to soften, another ten minutes
- Pour in the chicken stock, stir, and continue cooking the vegetable mixture until turnips are fully cooked, around a half hour or longer
- Discard the bouquet garni
- Using a large slotted spoon, working in two batches, remove half of the vegetables to a food processor, tip in a large ladle of the broth and pulse until smooth
- Transfer the pulsed mixture to a large bowl then follow the same process with the remaining vegetables
- Return finished batches back to the cooking pot, stir well, add in salt and pepper, check seasoning, adjust to taste
- Let soup cool then refrigerate, covered, overnight When ready to serve, heat soup on very low temperature, check seasoning, add in a pinch or two of kosher salt to fully bring out flavors to taste
- Pour in the heavy cream, heating soup throughout
- Line each shallow bowl with raw turnip slices, pistachios, lemon rind, and fresh chopped parsley. Ladle hot soup all around colorful accompaniments.
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