This French Fridays with Dorie meal was delicious (of course they are all delicious)! But for this one, I opted to make my own vegetable stock with the recipe for the best vegetable stock ever, which you can find at epicurious.com. I pretty much did exactly that, except I omitted the canned tomatoes (I tossed in a small handful of sundried tomatoes instead) and I think I used less mushrooms (a few shiitakes). Oh and I used 5 cups water instead of a quart.
Things I learned/notes:
1. It is not warm weather here (in Portland). We are still 50-ish. Therefore, a nice hot bowl of soup was just the thing.
2. I made the herb coulis with basil.
3. I was surprised how much I liked the poached egg on this, the yolk added to the broth nicely.
4. I used kale from the garden instead of spinach.
5. Other vegetables I used: shiitakes, green beans, asparagus, leeks and onion. I thought I had a couple of potatoes but then I realized I didn’t. I was sad. Then I tried the soup and I was happy.
Okay, on the with photos! And everyone’s posts can be found here.
Vegetables ready to be roasted.
Simmering and becoming stock.
Basil coulis — I added a little lemon juice to mine. I’ve found that in basil pesto too, that a little lemon juice will help keep the color nice and green.
Kale freshly picked from the garden.
Beginnings of the pot au feu – vegetable stock, onion, garlic, leeks and an orange zest strip.
The rest of the veggies added.
Poaching my egg — I add a little vinegar to the water and because I poach in shallow water usually, I flip it gently a minute or two in.
Ready for the egg and the coulis!
Very lovely. And so springy!
I used veggie stock (and more than the recipe called for) and loved the added layer of flavor it brought. I bet the fresh kale was great in the soup.
I bet stock made out of roast vegetables is deliiiicious! Kale seems like it would be heartier and more filling than I thought the spinach was. Sounds like a good swap to me!
Lovely photos, I love your garden fresh kale. I’ll have to try making the homemade veggie broth, sounds wonderful;-)
I think I need to go back and make the basil coulis next time :)Nana loved this one but I was not sure it would fly at my house. Turns out everyone loved it and wants me to make it again. The wonders of FFwD never cease 🙂 And great process photos —
I’m definitely trying the basil coulis next time – I totally overlooked it. 🙁
Your soup looks extra tasty. So glad you enjoyed this week’s pick!
I’m impressed with the homemade vegetable stock. I’m usually a last minute person, so I don’t get to use too many variations! I love the look of your basil coulis (again, the last minuteness prevented me from making the finishing touch!).
Your soups looks great. I’m going to try poaching my eggs in a shallow pan next time. Thanks for the idea.
I love the green tinge in the soup from all the vegetables, kale, and coulis. It looks wonderful. I’m terrible when it comes to poaching eggs and am intrigued about poaching it in a shallow pan. It looks do-able.
Thanks everyone! This recipe was really a keeper 🙂
The shallow pan for egg poaching works great (at least for me), but you need to either flip the egg over to cook the top or continually scoop the simmering water over the top. Also, a little vinegar in the water is supposed to help keep the egg together.