This section is dedicated to recipes tried and tasted chez nous (our house). Enjoy and Bon Appetit!
RECIPES Click on RECIPES to See Excerpts of Posts Published Here
SOUPE DE BONNE FEMME (Old Wives’Soup)
from cookbook Françoise Bernard, ma cuisine d’aujourd’hui
VEGETARIAN
The picture does not give it justice, the name of this soup neither…but this is really a super easy and super delish soup that you can make with very little effort and ingredients. There is a secret on why this tastes so good…Keep reading 
Ingredients:
3 Leeks, 3 Tablespoons Salted Butter, 8 Ounces of Potatoes (about 2-3 medium), 6 cups & 1 Tablespoon of Water, 4 Toasted Bread Slices, Salt and Pepper to taste
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Cut off larger green endings of leeks and dispose. Wash tender white part of leeks well and cut into small circles.
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Cook leeks for 1 minute with 1 Tablespoon of salted butter.
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Add 1 Tablespoon of water and cook for 5 minutes more on low heat.
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Peel potatoes and cut them into circles.
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Add them to leeks with 6 cups of water, salt and pepper to taste. Let soup boil very slowly for 45 minutes.
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Butter the toast (with salted butter!) and put one piece in the bottom of each soup bowl.
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Pour the soup directly on top of the toast and serve immediately.
The secret on why this easy soup tastes so good is due to the toast that sits in the bottom of your soup bowl! Using good bread (like a French or Italian “baguette,” smeared with salted butter adds the delicious touch to this dish. Never mind that the aroma is amazing…but tasting this soup with the toast that is just starting to soften in your bowl…The combination of tasting the bread, the salted butter, leeks and potatoes, yummy, I promise! Make sure you use enough salt to taste for your liking. Using salted butter on the toast also adds salt to the dish. You can adapt this soup by cooking a bit of bacon in the soup pot before the leeks. Serve with a green salad for a light meal or before a main dish for a bigger meal. ENJOY!
If you like easy French cooking, check out one of Françoise Bernard’s cookbook translated to English, geared to the anglophone audience. Here is the direct link to amazon.com for more information:
Cannot vouch for this cookbook directly, but I use her French version and the recipes are easy and delicious. See the link to the French version below.
About Mary Brighton
Mary Brighton, MS, RD is a registered dietitian and website developer. Living in Europe for the last 11 years including the last 9 years in France offers an international and European perspective on food, health, nutrition and European living. In addition to researching and writing on healthy living, nutrition and cuisine, Mary has nearly 20 years of experience counseling and serving clients in dietetics through private practice, clinical, outpatient and rehabilitation centers.
Hi Mary and everyone,
Sounds yummy. I will definitely try this. But wait… don’t throw away the green part of the leeks!!
Cut off the tattered ends and discard the outer leaf/blade too if it’s a bit beat up. Rinse the remaining greens well and cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Peel and chop up some carrots and potatoes. Boil in water until soft and put through the food mill. My lovely mother-in-law raised her 7 children on this soup (“poireaux-pommes-de-terre-carrottes”) and I raised my 3 on it as well. It was served most school nights (usually before a vegetable dish like a gratin, or an egg or omelet)in our home for 20 years. Olive oil is added at the table along with slivers of Gruyere or Emmental. Soup is easy to eat, even for very young children and is very filling. If they finish their soup, you know they’re getting at least 1 green, 1 orange and 1 white vegetable.
If you’ve got no leeks at hand, any green vegetable will do–beans, spinach, even lettuce. Throw in a turnip for a bit more excitement.
[Reply]
mbrighton Reply:
March 9th, 2011 at 10:27
Anna Kay! Great ideas….thanks for sharing, keep them coming…! Can I post your sundried tomato pesto over soft goat cheese recipe too? Another quick & delish dish…? Merci,
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Love your site, going to make the soup today…thank you so much for sharing….
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mbrighton Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 00:08
Hi Adele, Thanks for your support. Let me know how the soup comes out. Don’t forget the secret touch
…Toasted bread with salty butter laid in bottom of bowl. As a foodie yourself , you may also find this delicious too! Bon Appetit!
[Reply]
Hello,
We bumped into your blog and we really liked it – great recipes YUM YUM.
We would like to add it to the Petitchef.com.
We would be delighted if you could add your blog to Petitchef so that our users can, as us,
enjoy your recipes.
Petitchef is a french based Cooking recipes Portal. Several hundred Blogs are already members
and benefit from their exposure on Petitchef.com.
To add your site to the Petitchef family you can use http://en.petitchef.com/?obj=front&action=site_ajout_form or just go to Petitchef.com and click on “Add your site”
Best regards,
Vincent
petitchef.com
[Reply]
Bonjour Vincent, will check it out! Merci! Mary
[Reply]
Mary – tried this soup tonight with some tweeks (thyme, smoked gruyere melted on toasts.) Going to blog about it too with credit to your site/post. Love “meeting” you through Recipe Redux and so glad to have you on board with us (we’ll live vicariously through you over there in France
[Reply]
mbrighton Reply:
October 26th, 2011 at 23:39
Great suggestions on the tweaks. WIll try those too. We love melted gruyere on our onion soup here too. Mmmmm.
Excited to be part of the Recipe Redux challenge.
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Umm – forgot to mention the soup was DIVINE! What a wonderful aroma and flavor from such simple ingredients, eh?
[Reply]
mbrighton Reply:
October 26th, 2011 at 23:37
Merci, Thank you! Great you tried the recipe. Sometimes the most simple foods can be the most delicious. Like this soup…cold autumn night, nothing like a warm yummy soup to warm up the soul
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