I created this recipe after a trip to Los Angeles with Elizabeth when we lived in Napa Valley and I was the Executive Chef at Solbar. We ate a standout dinner at Melisse (in Santa Monica), and one of my favorite courses was a small portion of a warm soup whose principal ingredient seemed to be Parmigiano-Reggiano. Parmigiano-Reggiano, of course, is one of mankind’s signature achievements.
The technique used here is sound and straightforward, and if you take nothing else away from this recipe, please absorb the fact that the best pureed soups are always made in this manner. One sweats the onions till soft and sweet, then in goes the wine and aromatics, then the main ingredients (usually mushrooms or asparagus or carrots to make soup by those names, but in this case onions remain the main ingredient). The expensive stuff (cheese, sherry, bacon, fresh herbs, truffles, e.g.) only goes in at the very end.
I don’t know of a more versatile soup. At Hawthorne & Wood, we often run this one in the early Spring, when waves of fresh vegetables are rolling in and we can switch them out as garnishes without having to change the soup itself. If you
want to zhuz it up, it’s fantastic with a garnish of lobster knuckles, celery root, brioche croutons and fresh tarragon.
- 200g vegetable or other neutral oil
- 800g thinly sliced yellow onion (about 3 ea medium onions)
- 10g kosher salt
- 100g white wine
- Sachet: 6 thyme sprigs, 3 cloves crushed garlic
- 140g peeled sliced Yukon gold potato (about 1 each)
- 207g peeled sliced sunchoke (Start with almost a pound (454g) unpeeled weight)
- 64g peeled sliced parsnip (about 1/2 parsnip)
- 1250g water
- 350g cold heavy cream
- 75g microplaned parmigiano-reggiano
In a heavy-gauge rondo or saucepot, sweat the onions in the oil with the salt until soft and sweet but not browned, stirring often, about 25 minutes. Add the wine and the sachet; gently reduce au sec (until the pan is dry).
Add the potato, sunchoke, parsnip, and water. BTAS (bring to a simmer) and cook over low heat until the pieces of parsnip are soft. Turn off the flame. Remove the sachet with a spoon, squeezing it against the side of the pot so any liquid in there remains in the soup.
Working in four batches in the blender, add 1/4 of the soup mixture to the blender along with 1/4 of the cold cream and 1/4 of the microplaned cheese (you can eyeball these amounts). Blend each time for 35-45 seconds on high till completely smooth. Press through a chinois into a metal container if you are cooling and storing for later, or into a clean pot if you are serving it right away. Once all the soup has gone through the chinois, taste is and reseason as needed with salt.
If the soup sits cold for a couple of days, you may want to add a squeeze of fresh lemon after you heat it up just to bring it back to life a bit.