Chilled
Lemon Grass and Coriander Vichyssoise
In summer, if the weather is really hot, nothing could be
more refreshing than a chilled soup. Leeks, which have made
this particular recipe famous, are not available in summer, but this alternative
is, I think, even better. It's made using fresh lemon grass,
available at oriental shops and larger supermarkets. Once again, remember to
serve the soup well chilled.
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
4 Thick Stems Lemon Grass
2oz / 50g Fresh Coriander
Leaves
4 Spring
Onions, finely chopped
2oz / 50g Butter
2 Medium Onions, chopped
10oz / 275g New
Potatoes, scraped and chopped small
5 floz / 150ml Milk
Salt and Freshly
Milled Black Pepper
TO
GARNISH:
Thin Lemon Slices
Instructions:
- Strip
the coriander
leaves from the stalks and reserve both the leaves and the stalks.
- Lemon grass
is dealt with in exactly the same way as leeks: that is, you
trim the root and the tough top away, leaving about 6 inches / 15cm of
stem, remove the outer skin and chop the lemon grass
quite finely.
- Do
the same with the spring
onions.
- Gather
up all the trimmings from both, wash them and pop them into a saucepan together
with the coriander
stalks, some salt
and 1½ pints / 850ml water and simmer (covered) for about 30 minutes to
make a stock.
- To
make the soup, melt the butter in a large
saucepan, then add the chopped lemon grass, onions (reserve
the spring
onions till later) and potatoes and
keeping the heat low, let the vegetables sweat gently (covered) for about
10 minutes.
- Pour
in the stock through a strainer, discard the debris, then add the milk and about
three-quarters of the coriander
leaves.
- Season
with salt and pepper, bring the soup
up to simmering point and simmer very gently for about 25 minutes.
- Allow
the soup to cool a little before pouring it into a food processor or
blender, whiz it up, then pour it through a strainer into a bowl.
- When
it's cold, cover and chill thoroughly till you're ready to serve. I think
it's a good idea to serve the soup in glass bowls that have already been
chilled.
- Add
a cube of ice to each bowl and sprinkle in the rest of the coriander
(finely chopped) and the spring
onions as a garnish.
- Finally,
float some lemon
slices on top and serve straight away.
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