Ruth Reichl's Hot (Vegan) Vichyssoise for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie Sundays)

For this week's soup, I went to Ruth Reichl's blog where I found this hot Hot (Vegan) Vichyssoise. Basically it's a simple potato and leek soup, but there is nothing wrong with that. Ruth's recipe included dairy so it was a vegetarian soup but I used vegan butter and coconut milk to make mine vegan.

Ruth says, "It's so clear today that from where I'm sitting I can see both the Catskills and the Adirondacks, and if I get out the binoculars I can just make out Lake George far to the north. It feels like spring is trying to arrive, and yet there's not a single local vegetable in the market and it feels like soup weather. And so I ended up making this warm, vegetarian version of the rich, cold summer soup, Vichyssoise. It is not, by the way, a French dish. It was invented at the Ritz Hotel in New York in 1917 by Chef Louis Diat (who went on to become the resident chef at Gourmet Magazine in the fifties.)"

Hot Vegetarian Vichyssoise
Slightly Adapted from RuthReichl.com
(Serves 4)

4 large leeks, cleaned well of sand, white part finely chopped--about 5 cups
1 Tbsp unsalted butter (I used vegan butter)
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
4 cups vegetable stock (Ruth includes a recipe on her post)
5 small russet potatoes, finely chopped 
1 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 cup whole milk
1 cup half-and-half  
garnish--chopped scallions or chives & a squeeze of lemon if desired

Cook the leeks and onions slowly in the butter until they're soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. The quantity will reduce considerably.
 
Add the hot vegetable stock,  the potatoes, and the salt. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for thirty minutes, partially covered. 
 
Strain the mixture and puree the leeks and potatoes in a food processor. 
 
Whisk the puree into the strained liquid, add a cup of milk, and a cup of half and half.  
 
Bring to a boil and the very carefully puree the entire mixture again to make an extremely smooth soup. (Hot soup can be very painful when it hits your skin.)
 
Add a splash of lemon juice, taste for seasoning, and garnish with chopped chives or scallions.

Notes/Results:  A tasty and simple soup--perfect for a cool day. I got lazy and I didn't puree and strain the sou--just blended about half of it in my blender. I actually like it to be a chunkier soup and with the blending and the coconut milk--it still ends up silky, rich and creamy. I wasn't feeling the lemon juice, so I just topped my soup with green onions. I would happily make it again.

Linking up this take on a classic soup and one of my traditions (making soup on Sundays) with I Heart Cooking Clubs for this week's Traditions & Classics theme.

Now let's take a look into the Souper Sundays kitchen:

Tina of Squirrel Head Manor made a warm and comforting recipe from the SkinnyTaste cookbook and said, "Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup to warm the bones. It's not as cheesy as this photo makes it look, but there is a good amount of cheese. You may notice something that's different from other versions of this broccoli soup - it's not blended.  Yep, I made the soup and forgot to use the immersion blender to smooth all the chunks out. But still - it was good."

 
Thank you Tina for joining in this week! 
 
About Souper Sundays:

Souper Sundays (going since 2008) now has a format of a picture link each week where anyone interested can post their soups, salads, or sandwiches at any time during the week and I post a recap of the entries the following week.

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here. 
If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up her in order to be included in the weekly round-up.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to it on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (optional).

An InLinkz Link-up

 
 Have a happy, healthy week! Happy Holidays!