What I Learned at Cooking School- Part 2

Cooking is my passion. I am fortunate that this passion often overlaps my career in nutrition as we work to build healthy recipes, test cooking techniques, and write curricula that helps everyday cooks make healthy food for their family. As with any passion, you should sharpen your knives from time to time.

The way I do this is to attend cooking classes. I have had the opportunity to train at Le Cordon Bleu, Culinary Institute of America, and most recently, at the Institute for Culinary Education. My latest class was four days of intensive training in cooking skills. The class included traditional French techniques that are centuries old and are still used as building blocks for many cuisines of the world. This four-blog series will include one technique from each day that I believe may help you as a home cook. Cook along with me as we explore fine cooking techniques.

Day 2

The second class in this four-class series included chicken butchery, stuffing and breading of poultry, pastry, and basic soup. The French know a lot about cooking but one of the things they do best, in my opinion, is soup. While traditional French soups usually have cream and butter, we can learn from how they combine flavors to make a very healthy and easy soup.  Here is an adapted recipe that you will make again and again. It can be served hot or room temperature.

Simple Potato, Leek, and Carrot Soup

Note: Only ½ of the soup gets pureed so make sure you dice the vegetables in small pieces that are of similar size.

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large leek ,well cleaned and diced (white part only)
• ½ pound potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 large or 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth (or another cup of water or milk)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Minced parsley or green onions for garnish
• Plain Greek yogurt for garnish

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium soup pot.
2. Add the leeks and cook on medium heat until soft, about 10 minutes. Do not allow to brown.
3. Add the remaining ingredients except for the garnish.
4. Cook until the vegetables are very soft, 30-45 minutes. Stir frequently.
5. Remove ½ of the soup and puree using a blender or emersion blender.
6. Return the puree to the pot and heat through. Adjust seasoning if needed. There is a good chance it will need additional salt depending on the type of broth you use.
7. Serve in flat bowls and garnish with parsley or chopped green onion and a teaspoon of plain Greek yogurt.

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