I’ve Been Making Julia Child’s 4-Ingredient Soup for Years

To say I love soup is an understatement. I even wrote a book on the topic, such is my love of a good bowl of soup. One of my favorites is the most simple I’ve ever come across, Julia Child’s Potage Parmentier (Leek and Potato Soup). It’s the very first recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering The Art of French Cooking, and it’s a doozy.

Parmentier in the French cooking lexicon means “prepared with potatoes,” after Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a horticulturist who popularized the cultivation and use of potatoes in 18th-century France. True to the name of Julia’s soup, it’s potatoes, leeks, water, salt, and a little cream to finish.

Compared to the thick, chunky, topping-loaded baked potato soup recipes that have become popular in the last decade, this soup is elegantly simple. It’s creamy while still being light, filling without being a gut bomb, and so simple to make, it’s a staple all soup season long in our house. All you need is a green salad, a hunk of Brie cheese, and some warm baguette to complete the “dining in a bistro” picture.

How To Make Julia Child’s Leek and Potato Soup

Julia’s recipe doesn’t bother with multi-step sautéing, deglazing, and simmering like most soups. Instead, she simply chucks sliced peeled potatoes (floury types like Russets work best), the sliced white and light green parts of leeks, a generous amount of salt, and water in a pot and boils them until they are very tender, 40 to 50 minutes. She also includes instructions for making the soup in a pressure cooker, calling for just 5 minutes on high pressure, plus an uncovered 15-minute simmer to develop the flavor of the soup.

Julia tells you to blend the soup with a fork or pass it through a food mill, warning against using a blender because “there is something un-French and monotonous about the way a blender reduces the soup to universal baby pap.”

While humorous headnotes like this are what make reading Julia’s books so rewarding, I don’t actually agree with this particular piece of advice. I’ve been making this soup for 20 years, and I blend it with an immersion blender (or in batches in my old Oster blender) and I love the silky smooth results.

Another reason that I love this recipe is that it’s not just one recipe. Julia encourages you to change up the formula, adding carrots, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, watercress, or just about any other vegetable you have on hand. I’ve tried nearly all of her suggestions and they all have one thing in common: they’re all delicious.

Get Recipe: Julia Child's Potage Parmentier Recipe

My Tips For Making Potato Leek Soup

• Leeks are grown in sandy soil and hide it incredibly well within their layers. Be sure to halve the leeks lengthwise, trim off the roots, and wash them thoroughly under running water, spreading apart the leaves to rinse away any stubborn grit.

• Don’t over-blend. Just 10 to 15 seconds with an immersion blender or 5 to 10 seconds in a blender jar are enough. If you over-blend, the starches can become a tad gluey.

• Adjust the consistency of the soup by simmering it uncovered over medium-low heat if you’d like to thicken it, or add additional water if you would like the soup more liquidy.

• Adjust the seasoning after you add the cream and don’t be tempted to do too much to it. I’ve ruined this soup by adding too many other things—hot sauce, too much pepper, nutmeg. Let the vegetal greenness of the leeks and the earthiness of the potatoes speak for themselves. To that end, it pays to buy tender young leeks and good quality, locally grown potatoes if you can. You can taste the difference.
  

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