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Hey, what's up guys?
Welcome back to Binging with Babish,
with this week we're taking a look
at Remy's soup from "Ratatouille",
which by most metrics appears to be a potato leek soup.
I think Pixar took some culinary liberties
in depicting the recipe,
so we're gonna do what we do best here on Babish,
make a super basic version, and then like Remy,
see in what ways we can improve it.
First, we have to trim and clean our leeks.
That means we're removing the roots and cutting the leek
at the point where the white begins to turn to green.
Then the white segments are being halved lengthwise
and thoroughly washed, leeks being notorious
for hiding dirt in every crevice.
Submergence in water
and flip through the layers like a book
to make sure that no errant granules of earth
are left behind.
Then we wanna pat these guys dry
before beginning to slice into very, very thin slices.
Leeks are of a tough and fibrous sort
and if you're not pureeing your soup,
can turn into little edible zip ties.
I'm doing two recipes, so I'm gonna divvy these up in two,
It's about three leeks per recipe, and starting work
on the other half of this self-titled album, the potato.
Three large russets peeled
and chopped into half inch pieces.
Keep these guys covered in cold water
to wash off excess starch and prevent oxidation.
Everybody's prepped, so it's time to cook,
and we're starting with the very simplest
iteration of potato leek soup, vichyssoise,
melting two tablespoons of butter
in a wide, high-walled skillet.
Wait for the foaming to subside, and then we're adding
our three leeks' worth of thinly sliced bottoms,
sauteing over medium heat for three to five minutes
until sweated and beginning to soften.
Hopefully you've got a little bit of brown stuff forming
on the bottom of the pot, which we're gonna deglaze
with one liter or 4.22 cups of vegetable stock.
Bring this guy up to a simmer before adding our potatoes,
three russets' worth, between five to 600 grams.
Then here they shall cook with the stock and leeks
for about 15 minutes until completely softened
and effortly pierced by a paring knife or human teeth.
Now to be more movie accurate,
you could serve the soup like this,
rustic with whole chunks of vegetables in it,
but to make it a vichyssoise, it must be pureed.
You could do this in the pan,
but that's not very smart, Andy.
Let's put it in a thing,
something tall, narrow, and heatproof.
Season to taste with kosher salt
and make sure that everything is entirely smooth.
Then finally, we're adding a half cup of heavy cream.
Now, you might be wondering why I'm using a whisk
instead of the hand blender to incorporate the cream,
and I'm wondering that, too.
Guess you'd have to ask last week Andy,
and I don't get that guy.
Be sure to taste for seasoning,
and the soup can be served hot
but is traditionally served cold.
So cover it up tight and fridge it
for at least four hours or until completely not hot.
Pour it into a soup style bowl,
garnish with a little bit more heavy cream.
Not my best work, but certainly not my worst.
Garnish with chives for color and chiveness
and season with a little bit of freshly ground black pepper.
And there you have it, a classic vichyssoise,
reportedly Julia Child's very favorite soup.
So how's it taste?
And the answer is very, very good, but very, very simple,
as though licked off the page
of the definition of potato leek soup.
Certainly not as bad as Linguini's,
but what would Remy the rat do?
First up, I think make good use of these leek greens
in homemade vegetable stock, cutting all these guys in half
and very extremely thoroughly washing them,
as the greens tend to be even dirtier.
I'm gonna chop these up
into some slightly more manageable pieces
so they fit in the pan, and give them plenty of company
in the form of several essential aromatics.
Of course, there's celery,
and this is a great opportunity
to put those celery leaves to good use.
Make sure you wash those two before you add 'em to the pan.
And carrots are a given, but I like to also add
a parsnips' worth of parsnip to my stock.
I've found that it adds a distinct sweetness,
and despite all the oniony leeks in there,
we're gonna add one onion quartered, some fresh thyme,
fresh parsley, a little bit of fresh rosemary,
and a hefty finger full of bay leaves,
something I definitely saw Remy throw in the pot.
I'm also gonna add some halved garlic cloves.
I got these giant ones.
Covering everybody with cold water,
popping a lid on top and bringing to a simmer,
then partially covering and holding
for at least two hours up to four.
After that point, there's not much more flavor
to be gotten out of these vegetables.
You could snack on 'em if you want,
but they're really better as compost.
Simply strain out the solids
and we're only gonna need a liter of this vegetable stock,
so make sure you freeze and save the rest.
Next up, another ingredient added by Remy, garlic.
But instead of just throwing whole cloves in the pot,
we're gonna cut the tops off two heads of garlic,
wrap in a little bit of foil,
drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt,
twist the aluminum foil tightly around the garlic
and place in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven
for 35 to 45 minutes
until you can plainly smell the greatness lying in wait.
Retrieve from the oven without Ove Gloves
so you look like a tough guy, unwrap and behold.
Now, you might be thinking,
two whole heads of garlic for soup is a lot,
and you're right.
That's why one of these is just a snack for me.
Over on the stove top, we're starting out the same way,
but I want to try and caramelize these leeks.
You can't really caramelize leeks
the same way that you can onions,
but I'm just gonna keep them moving low and slow
for as long as I possibly can
until they've got some good color.
Next door you might be wondering
why I'm bringing my potatoes to a boil
in plain salted water instead of stock.
Once again, I'm gonna ask you
to direct all your questions the last week Andy.
I seriously don't know what he's doing sometimes.
It's like he has zero hindsight.
Once the leeks can't caramelize no more without browning,
I'm deglazing with one cup of dry white wine,
simmering over medium heat
until the onions are soft and jammy
and the wine has all but evaporated.
This should also leave some delicious fond
on the bottom of the pot that we can then deglaze
with our homemade vegetable stock.
Make sure you scrape up all that good stuff,
adding one liter of stock to the pot.
Then once the potatoes are nice and tender,
I'm gonna drain them.
Then I'm gonna start by only adding
half the potatoes to the soup.
That's because I'm gonna use some to thicken the soup
and the rest to give it a chunky texture like in the movie.
Squeeze that head of roasted garlic in there
and simmer for about five minutes,
just to let the flavors get to know each other,
but they're all about to get very well acquainted
in the blender, which I'm gonna blitz for about 30 seconds
on max speed to ensure
that all the vegetables are liquified.
Now, here's where you need to start making adjustments.
This soup is way too thin, so I'm gonna pour some of it out
and add a scoop or two more potatoes to thicken its body
before it thickens my body, and keep adjusting as necessary,
making sure to season to taste with kosher salt.
And I'm gonna add a half teaspoon of white pepper
so we don't end up with speckly soup.
Now that it's nice and thick but not gunky,
I'm gonna return it to the pan,
then like a rat in a fine French kitchen,
start adding stuff.
First the remaining potatoes
so the soup has a nice chunky vibe to it,
and entire cup or 236 milliliters of heavy cream.
And for a little added tang, I'm gonna add two ounces
or about 50 grams of quark, which if you can't find,
you could just use gournay or cream cheese.
Scoop into an awaiting prewarm bowl
if you wanna be a pro about it.
Garnish once again with chives
and freshly ground black pepper,
and since there's so much cream already in the soup,
I'm gonna drizzle it
with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil,
since you can see some beads of fat dancing
across the surface of the soup in the movie,
but how's it taste?
And the answer is really, really good.
It's everything that makes the vichyssoise great,
with added flavor and complexity.
I think I would've loved
a little freshly graded nutmeg over top, but once again,
last week Andy dropped the ball,
still an unquestionable member
of the clean plate slash bowl club.
Thanks again to Cash App.
That's money, that's Cash App.
Downloaded Cash App from the App Store
or Google Play Store today to add your $Cashtag
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