nothing fishy about vichyssoise

Nothing except for its name of course. Pronounced vishy(as in fishy)-sue-az, this soup is named after its creator's hometown, Vichy, a town in the central French Auvergne region. Vichy was invaded by the Germans in 1942 and occupied by the Nazis until 1944. Today it is a spa and resort town and locals are referred to as Vichyssois, much like the soup. The town's claim to fame is their thermal baths with healing properties, not the Vichyssoise soup which actually originated in New York's Ritz Carlton in the early 1900's.

We are always in search of healing. From the cure to cancer, AIDS, and MS to simpler ailments such as the common daily aches of an aging body, and trauma from psychological events, we look for comfort and freedom from pain in one form or another. In addition to traditional medicine, I use yoga, accupuncture, homeopathic treatments, and physical therapy for my pains. A more integrated healing approach can help the source of the problem and expedite healing. We also often use food as medicine to help with healing.

Aloe vera can help hydrate burnt skin, mint and ginger calm upset tummies, lemon has a cleansing effect on the kidneys, and the list goes on and on. We eat chicken soup when we're sick and there is great debate on whether it has physical healing properties to help with the common cold. But at a minimum we know it warms the soul, brings comfort with memories of our Moms feeding it to us when we were sick, and fills us with something more nutritious when our bodies need rejuventation. In Chinese medicine and coincidentally in my Persian family, foods are known to have hot and cold healing properties, similar to India's ayurvedic medicine. We use foods to stay in balance from both a physical and mental perspective. Overconsuming either type of food will bring digestive discomfort and lack of clarity in thoughts, perhaps even disease.

After years of listening to my body and personal trial and errors, I felt this recent change in season called for eating soup. But the sun is still strong and while the days are ever so gradually getting shorter, the seasons are only in transition. The idea of a cold soup came to mind. Vichyssoise, a puréed soup of leeks and potatoes (leeks are "warm" and potatoes are "cool", resulting in a balanced neutral meal), is traditionally served cold which is the perfect hybrid solution to having soup on a warm fall day. In my imagination, perhaps a cold puréed soup was what the aristocrats traveling to the Vichy thermal baths needed. Instead of puréed, I chose to eat my soup chunky, adding extra zucchini to the soup for its cooling effects ... a perfect complement to an early October sunny day.

Until I can plan a trip to Auvergne to use the Vichy thermal baths and steal a few bites of Bleu d'Auvergne cheese, I will savor tastes of my cold October soup. For dessert, I have fresh black mission figs poached in port that I serve on a piece of baguette with a Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese. I can almost feel the steam from the thermal baths. I think I'm healed.

ingredients:

2 leeks, white and green parts sliced thin

5 small zucchinis, sliced in rounds

3 medium new potatoes, peeled and cut in rough 1/2-inch squares

1 Tablespoon salt

1/2 Tablespoon cracked pepper

1 Tablespoon butter

1 Tablespoon olive oil

4 cups vegetable broth (I use one 32 oz. box of Trader Joe's Organic Hearty Vegetable Broth)

dollop of crème fraîche

basil florettes

method:

Sautée the leek, zucchini, and potatoes in the butter and olive oil for five minutes. Add salt & pepper, stir, and cover with lid over the heat for another five minutes until the leeks have caramelized. Add the vegetable broth and simmer the vegetables covered until the potatoes are tender but still have their shape, about 30 minutes. Serve cold with a dollop of creme fraiche and basil florettes.

suggestion:

As in the traditional recipe, you can purée the soup in a food processor and add 2 tablespoons cream to the cold soup prior to serving. Or serve the soup hot. Whichever is more healing to you.

where to buy:

For more information on Point Reyes Blue Cheese and to buy it online, visit www.pointreyescheese.com