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White bean veloute soup

Time2 hours 45 minutes
YieldsServes 6
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The word itself is delicious -- veloute, veh-loo-TAY. If you were in Paris, you’d see them on the menus in bistro after brasserie after restaurant. Velvety, creamy soups, sometimes classic, sometimes more inventive -- chestnut-celeriac with foie gras and cacao, or white bean showered with matchstick-size pieces of black truffle, or a veloute of porcini mushrooms with lardo di Colonnata and fatty-spicy ham from the valley of Les Aldudes in the Pays Basque (poured from a glass carafe at the table, no less).

On a recent wintry day, I spent an afternoon at a bistro by the Seine. Lunch began with a creamy chestnut veloute topped with a fat, toasty griddle cake stuffed with creme fraiche. It was warming, gently rich and deeply satisfying. I then found myself ordering bowlfuls of veloute all over the city.

Veloute sounds fancy, but it’s easy enough to make. The point is to get the right consistency -- a not-too-thick, creamy-velvety texture -- as well as concentrated flavor. Knowing the basic construction of veloute lets you improvise with whatever vegetables you happen to have on hand. Try a veloute made with cremini and oyster mushrooms, punctuated with a little garlic and rosemary; or a soulful white-bean soup finished with cream and a little Gruyere cheese. Go elegant with kabocha soup dressed with a dollop of sour cream; slender, buttery croutons; and a light sprinkling of piment d’espelette (dried red Basque chile).

In the fall, definitely chestnut veloute, and in the summer, chilled avocado. Or even a Brazilian-style cashew soup from James Peterson’s “Splendid Soups” that is basically a veloute -- roasted cashews pureed with cooked onions and garlic, added to chicken broth and finished with coconut milk.

Sauce veloute is a light stock that has been thickened with white roux -- flour cooked in butter. Veloute soup traditionally is a pureed vegetable soup made with broth, thickened with a little flour and finished with cream and egg yolks. (Cream soups are made with milk as the liquid instead of broth.)

But it’s a flexible formula. Flour often helps thicken the soup and gives it a smooth texture, but you don’t always need it. A tablespoon of flour goes into the mushroom veloute to add body, but for a kabocha squash or white-bean soup, the vegetables (or legumes) themselves make a thick enough puree. Be careful not to over-process the vegetables in your blender or food processor; it’ll make the puree too viscous.

The mushroom soup is finished classically with cream and a little egg. But butter swirled into the kabocha veloute a little bit at a time at the end of cooking gives it extra smoothness and adds another dimension of flavor, bringing out the butteryness of the squash. Gruyere and cream enrich the white-bean soup -- the cheese stirred in just until it melts and then finished with the cream. So veloute.

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1

Soak the beans in water overnight. Drain.

2

Heat the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed stockpot until melted. Add the carrots, leeks and celery and saute over medium-low heat 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned.

3

Stir in one-half teaspoon thyme. Add the beans to the pot along with the chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer, partially covered, until the beans are tender, about 2 hours. Add additional water while cooking, if necessary, to keep beans covered. Season with salt and pepper.

4

Puree the soup in a food processor in batches until smooth, then return it to the pot and add the cheese. Heat the soup over low heat, stirring, until the cheese is just melted. Stir in the whipping cream, then remove from heat.

5

Adjust the seasoning if necessary. Spoon into bowls to serve. Garnish each serving with a sprinkle of the remaining thyme.