Friday, March 20, 2015

French Fridays with Dorie - Côte d`Azur Cure-all Soup


Today´s recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is Côte d`Azur Cure-all Soup, a classic Southern-French healing dish, a soup with egg yolks and lots of garlic. According to Dorie, the basis for this soup is either water or chicken broth. I chose to make a chicken broth. The secret to good chicken soup is oftentimes fiercely guarded, and everyone has their own version. It has a smell that gives us a hit of nostalgia and makes us feel instantly comforted. But there is more to it than nostalgia, though. Broths made from bones are a good source of amino acids, important for bosting our immune systems.




The second step in this recipe is to toss a whole head of garlic (cut into very thin slices) into your stock pot, then add a bouquet garni (fresh sage, bay leaf and thyme) and the chicken soup and let everything simmer along for a good thirty minutes. Then stir together farm fresh egg yolks (about five or six of them) as well as finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano and gradually whisk the egg mixture into your soup.




Everybody loves a warming bowl of soup to pick you up in winter or early spring and, speaking of nostalgia, this soup definitely reminds me of one of my favorite soups of my childhood – sans the garlic though. As a child, I loved to eat chicken soup with an egg yolk – it would always be served piping hot and with the yolk still intact and I loved stirring the yolk into the soup and enjoying the delicious results.




Instead of adding all the thinly sliced garlic to the simmering stock, though, I decided to fry some of the slices in a mild olive oil and added the Garlic Chips with Sea Salt as the garnish to the finished soup – made the soup look nice and added a welcome bit of crunch.




To make this a delicious as well as a satisfying lunch, I also decided to bake some Ramson-Potato-Buns. The dough is made with baked potatoes, farm fresh, thick buttermilk and fresh yeast. I found the first ramson (also known as wild garlic) this week and every year I use as much of it as reasonably possible in my recipes. This seasonal ingredient gives off an incredibly pungent smell in the wild. Unlike common cultivated garlic, it's the leaves that are eaten rather than the bulbs. The taste is more delicate too, similar to the flavor of chives. My favorite dish to create with those lovely dark green leaves is a Ramson and Spring Herb Salad. But I also love to use ransom in my baking and those rolls harmonized so well with this Côte d`Azur Cure-all Soup




There is definitely something restorative and satisfying about this Côte d`Azur Cure-all Soup. It is like nostalgia in a bowl and magic medicine at the same time and we all enjoyed it.

To see whether the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group enjoyed this week´s recipe, please go here.

For copyright reasons, we do not publish the recipes from the book. But you can find the recipe for this Côte d`Azur Cure-all Soup on pages 70-71 in Dorie Greenspan´s cookbook "Around my French Table".

Ramson-Potato Buns

Ingredients for the Dough

250 grams potatoes (about 2 medium)
250 grams AP (plain) flour, plus some for the work surface
a pinch of fine sea salt
1 tsp sugar
20 grams fresh yeast (or 2 1/2 tsp dry yeast)*
100 ml buttermilk

*2+1/2 tsp (one package) active dry yeast = 18 gm cake fresh yeast
-Carol Field, "The Italian Baker"

Ingredients for the Ramson Butter Filling

100 grams fresh ramson leaves, washed and dried
80 grams soft, unsalted butter
a pinch of fine sea salt

For the glaze

1 egg (M), free range or organic

Additional

a muffin tray for 12 muffins
12 paper liners

Preparation

1. Wrap two potatoes in baking paper, then in aluminium foil and then bake in a pre-heated oven at 160 degrees Celsius/320 degrees Fahrenheit until tender when pierced with a fork (depending on the size of the potatoes, this can take up to one hour). Peel the potatoes while still hot and using a potato ricer (or simply a fork) mash them.
2. In a bowl, mix together the 250 grams flour, salt and sugar. Add the crumbled yeast (or the dry yeast) and the buttermilk and stir well. Add the mashed potatoes to the flour mixture and using the dough hooks of your stand mixer, mix the dough until it comes together. If the dough is extremely sticky, add a bit of flour. Then cover the dough with saran wrap while preparing the ramson butter.
3. Take the stems off the ramson and chop. Mix together the chopped ramson, butter and salt.
4. Line the muffin tray with the paper liners. Knead the dough on your well-floured work surface and roll out to about 30 x 40 cm (11.8 x 15.7 inches). Using an offset spatula, spread the ramson butter across the dough, leaving a border. Roll the dough up from the long side facing you. Cut into 12 slices. Add the slices to the muffin liners. Cover with saran wrap and let rest for about 25 minutes in a warm spot.
5. Using a fork, mix the egg and using a soft pastry brush, brush the buns with the egg.
6. Bake the buns in a pre-heated oven (220 degrees Celsius/425 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 15 to 18 minutes.
7. Cool for a few minutes on a wire rack and enjoy while still warm.




32 comments:

  1. Oh my these rolls! Don't those look fantastic and just perfect paired up here! I had always heard from my grandmother that the cure in chicken soup was the bones. So I was surprised that this left the option of just using water! I used half and half..hedging my bet. I guess I was only half cured?

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    1. Dear Trevor, according to the kids, the rolls were the best part of that lunch - I liked the soup with some crunchy garlic chips but next time I am making a Cure-All-Soup, I will just go with my tried-and-true chicken stock recipe plus yolks and sans the garlic and parm.
      Thank you for the kind comment!

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  2. Yumm!!! Ich liebe Baerlauch und ich vermisse ihn sehr. Alles sieht wieder so koestlich aus. Wunderschoene Fotos, wie immer :-)
    Ganz liebe Grüße aus Frederick, wo seit gestern wieder alles unter einer weissen Schneedecke liegt.... :-(

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    1. Liebe Wally - kein Schnee in Sicht hier, stattdessen soll morgen die Sonne wieder scheinen. Der Bärlauch wächst in unserem Garten und heute habe ich einige Blätter an die Pasta-Sauce gegeben - mein absolutes Lieblings-Kraut im Frühling.
      Ich wünsche euch ein schönes Wochenende,
      Andrea

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  3. The soup looks interesting, I like the idea of adding a whole head of garlic. The rolls are stunning. However, what caught me eye was the bread bowl . My mom had had one just like that , saying " Gib uns unser täglich Brot".

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    1. Dear Gerlinde, interesting was my first thought exactly but we actually liked the soup, with a few garlic chips and some nice rolls on the side. Und meine alte Brotschale hat tatsächlich den gleichen Spruch bzw. Gebet.
      Liebe Grüße und herzlichen Dank für deinen netten Kommentar,
      Andrea

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  4. What great ideas! The rolls look absolutely delicious, and I love the idea of adding fried garlic chips to the soup. it definitely could have used some texture.

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    1. Dear Jora, thank you! If you need the recipe for the rolls, I will send it to you - it is so easy to put together and I love the idea of adding buttermilk, fresh yeast and riced potatoes to the dough. The fried garlic chips are delicious (even without the soup) - I was looking for something to boost the bland look and texture of that soup and this is the best I could do.

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  5. Those rolls look amazing! My own introduction to ramps was not so smooth. On my first visit to one of Frankfurt's weekly street markets I stopped by a stand which was selling a variety of homemade pasta sauces. I made a few purchases at that stand, including one which I thought was a traditional basil pesto. I wasn't able to speak a word of German at the time and the word bärlauch sounded close enough to basil to me. The first bite was a bit of a shock:-)

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    1. Dear Rose, hope you are feeling much better by now and that the soup has worked its magic on your cold. Well, Bärlauch (as we call this in German) or ramson or wild garlic is one of my favorite spring herb of all times, we even have some growing in our garden. But "all in moderation" is what I say, there is a Ramp Butter that gets added to the rolls, with about 250 grams of fresh ramp leaves and it gives these rolls a subtle but not overpowering taste of chive/garlic - ramp pesto is not something I make, I make a mixed pesto of spring herbs with Italian parsley, chives and ramp - that way, you will not be in a shock when you eat it!
      Gute Besserung,
      Andrea

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  6. Andrea there is so much to love about this post. The soup sounds fantastic but the rolls they look magnificent!

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    1. Karen, oh, thank you, dear friend - I kind of felt as if I wanted to forget about this soup post as quickly as possible - the soup was a bit difficult to photograph and I was lacking a bit of inspiration the day I put this together - so, thank you very much! I appreciate your support!
      Andrea

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  7. Hi, dear Andrea,
    this soup looks like a delicious idea! I have never tried soup with egg yolk - just with poached eggs - and now I'm really curious!
    The rolls are absolutely gorgeous :)
    Have a nice weekend!

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    1. Inês, but you must have come acrosss soup with egg yolk on one of the many, many menus in the lovely city of Munich?! It used to be served in Bavarian family-style restaurants all the time - hopefully, they have not decided to let it vanish into the not-so-hippster-food-category...I have to get back to Bavaria very soon, it has been way too long that I have not eaten proper Bavarian food.
      Liebe Grüße,
      Andrea

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  8. Those rolls are such a perfect accompaniment for the soup! And I love that you fried some garlic for the garnish, too. I knew you'd make this simple soup elegant. :)

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    1. Teresa, thank you very much - this soup was a bit of a challenge for me - I just could not imagine how to make it look reasonably nice, although it was a nice soup.

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  9. The soup sounds wonderful but those rolls have me drooling! They look amazing.

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    1. Thank you, Chris - I thought these rolls would be a nice accompaniment for this lovely soup.

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  10. SO much to love about this meal! The garlic chips, the soup and those fabulous rolls!!

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    1. Liz, thank you very much - this soup was a bit of a challenge to photograph but in the end we liked it wit those few additions.

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  11. I like your childhood version of the soup much better! (No garlic for me!) And your Ramson Potato Buns look wonderful. I love ramps ( I assume they are the same?) and can eat them. Happy Monday - sorry I am so behind in my blog reading! We need to talk soon about Easter cakes! :) Liebe Grüße, David

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  12. Magic medicine sounds wonderful. I am going to have to try this soup. Your Ramson-Potato-Buns look delicious. I love all things bread.

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    1. Diane, magic medicine - it is nice to think of these kinds of soups this way - that makes us feel even better immediately!

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  13. Those buns. First, the baked potato, buttermilk and fresh yeast says it all. Throw a little wild garlic in the mix and who needs a Cure-All Soup? You did make the soup very appetizing with the garlic chips which, I know, must have added to the appeal of the soup. I know you feel this FFWD post was difficult to photograph (the soup wasn't very photogenic) but you did a lovely job. The buns added the perfect touch. It is all about Springtime. I'm delighted that the Easter Bunny came early this year. Thank you for my goodies. Andrea.

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  14. You're so right about the nostalgia factor of soup when you're sick. I was healthy when I made the soup and did enjoy it. Now that it's all gone, I have a cold. I made chicken soup because it's familiar. Those rolls look fabulous. I've never had luck finding ramps, but I've always been intrigued by them. Of course, we won't be seeing any spring plants for a while yet. There's still a foot of snow on the ground. Have a wonderful week, my friend.

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  15. P.S. Can you send me the recipe for the rolls? Danke.

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    1. Betsy, I will translate the recipe for you this week and send it by email - it is short and sweet, so not bother at all!
      Hope you will enjoy it - it is indeed a breeze to prepare and it makes only 12 rolls, freezable, so just the right amuount for one muffin tray.
      Andrea

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  16. OMG Andrea, what a beautiful meal...the soup sounds and looks fabulous with the egg yolks...very rich...the rolls look so pretty and I like the idea of baled potato and buttermilk...
    Thanks for such an inspiration...have a wonderful week ahead my dear :)

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    1. Juliana, I bake a lot with boiled (skin on) potatoes and when you rice them and add them to a dough with buttermilk, you end up with the niceset, fluffiest, delicious rolls - perfect alongside a cure-all-soup.
      Thank you for the kind words,
      Andrea

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  17. Your soup and potato buns look magnificent. I feel better just looking at them.

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  18. I love the claim of cure-all and do believe there is validity to the healing power of chicken soup. Onions and garlic are known to have natural antibiotic properties and the marrow from the chicken bones can boost the immune system. Or, maybe it's just because Mom made it!

    Love those garlic rolls, too. I can't wait to taste this lovely soup.
    Thanks, Andrea doll. xoxo

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  19. Those rolls are gorgeous (as is the soup).
    I think it would be very enjoyable to spend an afternoon at your house :-)

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