Crème flamande

Cream of onion and potato soup

A simple to make but delicious soup from Elizabeth David.

For 5-6
225g (½lb) potatoes
1 large leek
2 large onions
few sprigs of parsley
85g (3oz) single cream
knob of butter

Cut all the vegetables except one of the large onions into large pieces and simmer them in just under a litre (2 pints) of water with seasonings, until quite soft. Sieve them, and return to the pan. Slice the second onion very finely, and melt it in butter. Don’t let it brown; when it’s pale and yellow and quite soft, add it to the soup, with its butter, and simmer for 10 minutes. Bring the cream to the boil, not too fast, and add to the soup.

This soup may not sound much, but it’s extraordinarily good, and makes five or six helpings.

For more like this, buy French Provincial Cooking by Elizabeth David