Creamed Lettuce Soup (Velouté Choisy)

Photography by Clay McLachlan

• 2½ lettuces
  

• 2 leek whites
  

• 5½ tablespoons butter, for the leeks
  

• Generous ¾ cup flour
  

• 9 cups clear white veal stock
  

• ²/₃ cup heavy cream
  

• 2 egg yolks
  

• 2 tablespoons butter for the lettuce chiffonade
  

• 8 slices sandwich loaf
  

• Oil for frying
  

• A few sprigs chervil, for garnish
  

• Salt, freshly ground pepper
  

Instructions:

1. Remove and discard the hearts of two of the lettuces and blanch the leaves whole. Peel, wash, and cut the leek whites. Sweat the leek white in the butter. Add the flour and stir with a spatula. Pour in the veal stock and bring the liquid to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the blanched lettuce leaves. Cook for 30–45 minutes, until the lettuce is cooked. Process or blend and strain through a chinois.
2. Combine the cream and egg yolk and mix into the strained soup in a mixing bowl to thicken it. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Cut the half lettuce into a chiffonade. Sweat the chiffonade briefly in the butter. Add it to the velouté.
4. Cut the bread into small cubes (less than ½ in.). Fry them in a pan and drain on a paper towel.
5. Pour the soup into a soup plate or tureen. Garnish with a nice sprig of chervil and a few croutons.