This beautiful two-toned potato leek soup makes a stunning presentation and yet is so easy to make. I saw it once in a magazine and thought I would try it. Served hot or cold, it is equally delicious.
Try it served chilled on a hot day!
The Potato and pea soups are identical except for the peas blended into a third of the completed potato soup. The added peas should give you the same amount of each soup.
It’s really not like you labored over two soups but it sure looks like it.
How to pour!
Slowly pour the soups into the bowl simultaneously on opposite sides – like 2:00 and 8:00 on a clock.
If serving hot, you might sprinkle a little Aleppo or black pepper on top and garnish with dill or snap peas.
Chill at least an hour is you want it cold. It really is refreshing. You might want to add a garnish of thinly sliced cucumber, radish, mint or dill.
Vischyssoise soup two ways
This soup starts with potato leek. I save off 1/3 of that and add a fresh pea pureé to it. The pea soup is freshened with dill, fennel seed and nutmeg. This soup can be served hot or cold. I served it very chilled on a hot summer day!
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 Russet potatoes
- 1 Leek
- 1/2 TSP Garlic powder
- 1/2 TBSP Herb De Province
- 1/4 TSP Nutmeg
- 1 TSP Fennel seeds
- 2 Cups Unsweetened plant milk So Delicious Coconut
- 1/2 TSP Aleppo pepper flakes Or red pepper flakes
- Water To cover
- 1 Cup Fresh peas
- 1 Cup Fresh spinach leaves
- 2 Tbsp Fresh dill
Instructions
- Peel and trim potatoes and cut into smaller pieces to lessen cooking time.
- Remove outer leaves and ends of the leek. Cut where the leek starts turning dark green, keeping the white part. Slice the leek lengthwise, fan out to separate the layers and wash thoroughly. Add to potatoes.
- Add potatoes and leeks to sauce pan and cover with water. place on stove top and simmer until potatoes and leeks are tender. See notes for a tip.
- Allow potatoes and leeks to cool or reserve any liquid and chill the potatoes and leeks with ice. You could also just chill them overnight.
- Wash fresh peas and steam these over the potatoes or cook them separately with just enough water to cover.
- When peas are still green but well blanched (about 5 minutes), add washed spinach to the peas and give them a minute to wilt. Strain any water and plunge the peas and spinach into a bowl of ice water. See notes for a tip.
- Add the coconut milk, fennel seeds, garlic, salt, pepper and nutmeg to the blender.
- Add potatoes and leeks to the blender and blend well. About 6 minutes.
- Taste the soup and adjust salt, pepper, nutmeg and garlic to your taste.
- Pour off 1/3 of the soup and set aside.
- Add Herbe De Province to the remaining soup and blend another 30 seconds.
- Pour potato soup into a bottle you can pour from. You may want a lid and you may place in the refrigerator to chill.
- Pour the reserved potato soup into the blender (no need to wash the blender). Add strained peas, spinach, and dill.
- Blend on high for 3 minutes until well blended and no spinach flecks are visible.
- Pour pea soup into a bottle you can pour from. You may want a lid and you may place in the refrigerator to chill.
- To serve, slowly pour both soups from each side at the same speed. I start with soups at 8:00 and 2:00 then end at 10:00 and 4:00 to get the Yin Yang effect. Top with a sprinkle of Aleppo, dill and any garnishes of choice and serve.
Notes
This is a Snap Pea Sheep recipe.
I make potato leek soup frequently because it is comfort food to me!
This soup can be made heartier with the addition of other vegetables such as spinach, peas or carrots.
In this case, I added fresh peas to part of the potato leek soup.
Tip: Reserve the potato water and use it to thin the soups appropriately. If you want a creamier soup, use coconut milk which will thin and cool the soup.
Steamed vegetables impart more flavor than boiled vegetables. You can still add the steam water to the soup but I would recommend using the milk first then adjust with the potato water as necessary.
Tip: I have a colander that fits into a bowl. I put ice in the bowl, strain the vegetables then set the colander into the bowl with the ice to chill the vegetables.
The soup should have the consistency of heavy cream. The trick to having two soups in the same bowl its to have them at the same temperature and consistency.
Tip: I made the potato soup, blended it and placed it in the refrigerator over night before thinning with milk or water. The next day I added the chilled peas to 1/3 of the potato soup and thinned it with the coconut milk.
I used tomato juice bottles for my soup. It made it easy to keep chilled and to pour the soup when I was ready.
