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Artichoke Velouté with Black Truffle Carpaccio

    Artichoke Velouté w/ Truffle Carpaccio

    It’s day three of my blogging event: “How to host an elegant, flavorful, vegan, gluten-free dinner party” for which I feature recipes created by the lovely and talented Viviane Bauquet Farre of food and style. Today’s installment is the second of the five-course meal. Check back Monday for course number three.

    Velouté in French means, “velvety,” and this soup is made velvety, not by creating a butter and flour roux, as are most French velouté sauces, but rather by puréeing the soup (including the artichokes and potatoes) in a blender and then pressing the it through a fine sieve. Whenever I strain a sauce or soup through a sieve, I am reminded of Thomas Keller because he has said that ‘nothing moves from one pot to another in the French Laundry kitchen without first passing through a sieve.’ Now that I have gotten into this habit as well, I highly recommend it.

    The other special trick for this soup is the black truffle carpaccio as the garnish. Viviane featured these in her original post, and I was compelled to order some myself. They are available at Gourmet Attitude in New York City. They FedEx them to you in a chilled box. They were a wonderful addition to this soup and I can’t wait to try them in other dishes as well. These are the first truffles to take up residence in my kitchen, so I am very excited about that.

    This would be another great occasion to own a stick blender. Every time I make a soup like this, I think it’s time to buy one, but I’ll be honest. I haven’t yet pulled the trigger.

    Parlsey and Thyme Bundle

    Artichoke Velouté with Black Truffle Carpaccio
    From a recipe by Viviane Bauquet Farre, by permission
    serves 6 (makes 8 cups)

    3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    1 medium Vidalia or Spanish onion – skinned, quartered and thinly sliced
    1/2 cup dry white wine
    2 garlic cloves – skinned and finely chopped
    8 oz Yukon gold potato (1 large) – peeled and cut in 1/2” cubes
    2 8oz boxes of frozen artichoke hearts
    2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
    2 1/2 cups spring/filtered water
    1 1/4 teaspoons sea salt or to taste
    freshly ground black pepper to taste
    8 Italian parsley sprigs & 6 thyme sprigs – tied in a bundle with kitchen string

    1/2 – 2.82 oz jar Black Truffle Carpaccio or truffle oil as garnish
    1/4 cup finely chopped chives as garnish

    Method

    1. Heat a large heavy-bottomed soup pot at medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and onion, stir well and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, until just golden, stirring from time to time. Add the garlic and wine. Stir well and continue to sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, until the wine has reduced to a syrupy sauce and has almost all evaporated. Add the potato cubes, frozen artichokes, stock, water, salt, pepper to taste and herb bundle. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover the pot and slow-simmer for 40 minutes until the artichokes are very tender. Remove the herb bundle and discard.

    2. Purée the soup with a stick blender, food processor, or blender until very smooth. Strain in a sieve and return to the soup pot and gently re-heat at medium heat. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.

    3. Ladle the soup into soup bowls, put a spoonful of black truffle carpaccio (or a spoonful of truffle oil), garnish with a swirl of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of fresh chives and serve immediately.

    Amy’s tip: Viviane recommends straining this soup through a medium sieve. I own a fine sieve but not a medium one. It was time-consuming to strain it through the fine sieve as she warned ,but I was glad I did it anyway. I used a wooden spoon to press it through and just tried to stay patient.

    Artichoke Velouté
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