Ahhhh, the French. So much culture, so much history, & so little taste.
Fermented in the crock, aaahhh, like the California wines….thats my food damn you. Orson Wells
This is my 2nd French derived dish & I have to say it may be my last. Followed directions & followed my heart (adding in my own ingredients or what-have-you), but alas these dishes come out crap. Although, on the dishes’s (sp) side is that they were both VEGGIE.
Leafy Green Soup
Thought I would give it my all & do everything like it was before/after WW2 & make everything from scratch. Those folks must have been very disappointed or had zero taste buds or super hungry in France…
Vegtable Stock (from freaking scrtatch!):
8 carrots | diced
6 celerty stalks | diced
3 whole onions | diced
3 garlic cloves | diced
6 sprigs parsley (got these out of my own garden)
3 bay leaves
pepper | 3/4 tblsp
thyme | 1 tblsp
12 cup water
leafy green mid
Cook:
put in crock for 8 hrs
Drain:
after 8 hrs drain into container(s) for use later
Note: I have to say – I realized how much crap it takes to make 6-8 cups of veggie broth
La Soupe:
butter | 1 tblsp
olive oil | 1 tblsp
small leaks | 6 of them bastards (clean – cut long ways & soak in bowl til the dirt comes out) then dice up
4 cloves garlic | minced, ooohhh fancy
tarragon | 1 tsp
pepper | 1 tblsp
veggie broth | 6 cups, we already made it!
potatoes | 3 small
swiss chard | 1 bunch
arugula (or sorrel or parsley) | 1 cup (I used arugula, so sophisticated)
Cooking:
In lg skillet do butter, cook leaks until soft – then add garlic, tarragon, & pepper – cook for a bit.
Add the veggie stock til boiling then transfer to crock.
Set for 8hrs!
Note:
add potatoes @ hr 2 or 3 if you can so they stay nice
At the 8th hour – the final countdown…tear up swiss chard & add – also add cleaned arugula (or whatever you had) – put crock on HIGH & let sit for 30 mins.
– This is where it gets tricky & I changed recipe! So, you’re supposed to blend all this in blender to puree – but, I don’t like my soup to be a smoothie, so I only did 1/2 of the batch. You can do what you want, that is just my deal. Just like mine to be somewhat of an actual soup & not a geriatric ward straw meal.
Casablanca effect
Serve with:
baguette – omg, Essential Baking from Seattle area – amazing (btw, this was the best part)
cheese (I put on some Pecorino Romano – I know not French) & also some Frenchie goat fromage for app. w/ crackers
Summary:
Hmmm, I do appreciate the wholesomeness & veggies, but damn if this wasn’t bland (also, I try not to add salt if I can help it). SOOO glad I didn’t puree the whole thing or it would have been mush. Kid (Vann) he kinda liked it & suffered my crock whim.
Going to give it a thumbs down & cook meat from now on.
To anyone that has read this to this point – one of my main goals is to just crock out & see what happens – good or bad. It is the highs & lows that make this actually fun & exploring food like I’ve never explored it before (sexual innuendo here).
You can bet your ass I’m not wasting my time on this one! Can you imagine me putting this in front of Dan & calling it dinner? BTW, I made some good old chili in the Crock last night……awe simplicity.! Stop trying so hard, but…..thanks for trying so hard, so we don’t have to! 🙂
RockOutWithYourCrockOut 
You can bet your ass I’m not wasting my time on this one! Can you imagine me putting this in front of Dan & calling it dinner? BTW, I made some good old chili in the Crock last night……awe simplicity.! Stop trying so hard, but…..thanks for trying so hard, so we don’t have to! 🙂