Home › The Principles of Cookery › MEAGRE SOUP (Soupe Maigre)

MEAGRE SOUP (Soupe Maigre)

Before beginning, wash thoroughly all your green vegetables, peel your roots, and throw them into cold water. The proportions of each must depend very much upon what you can get. The soup, when finished, should be of the thickness of ordinary pea-soup. Take five or six handfuls of common sorrel, two large lettuces from which the withered leaves only have been removed, a small bunch of chervil, and two or three sprigs of parsley. Shred all these very fine. Slice and chop onions, carrots, and leeks very fine. Fry the vegetables till lightly browned in butter, put them into a saucepan with boiling water, and add a bay-leaf, a sprig of thyme, and a good lump of butter. Season with pepper and salt. Stir from time to time to prevent any of the ingredients from sticking to the bottom. When they are thoroughly cooked, press the vegetables through a sieve. If necessary, add more water to the pulp, and boil the soup again before serving. The soup may be further thickened either with bread or boiled potatoes--steeped in a little of the liquor, and then broken up and mixed with the soup.