Consommé Bouquetiere

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •6-quart saucepan
• •Wire skimmer or slotted spoon
• •Large bowl for ice water
• •1 cm tubular vegetable cutter, small melon baller, or sharp paring knife
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Butter muslin or tightly woven cheesecloth
• •Large heatproof bowl
• •3-quart soup tureen

Instructions

1. 1

   Shape the garnish

   Cut the carrot and turnip with a 1 cm tubular cutter, or scoop small pearls with a melon baller. A careful 1 cm dice is the honest home equivalent if you own neither. Slice the haricots verts on a long diagonal into losanges, small diamonds, and trim the asparagus tips evenly. Keep all five vegetables separate. Even size matters because even pieces finish together; ornamental perfection does not.

2. 2

   Cook the roots

   Bring the blanching water and salt to a lively boil, and prepare a large bowl of ice water. Cook the turnip by itself for 2 to 3 minutes, until tender with a trace of resistance, then lift it into the ice water. Let the water recover its boil before cooking the carrot for 3 to 4 minutes in the same way. Cool it promptly, then drain both vegetables well and keep them separate.

   Test a piece rather than trusting the clock. Young roots cook quickly, and their small size leaves little room between pleasantly tender and soft.
3. 3

   Blanch the greens

   Cook each green vegetable separately in the boiling water: the haricots verts for 2 to 3 minutes, the asparagus tips for 1 to 2 minutes, and the petits pois for 45 to 90 seconds. Transfer each batch immediately to the ice water, then drain and spread it on a clean towel. The vegetables should be bright, tender, and still entirely themselves. If the green begins to dull, cool it at once; ça se rattrape before softness takes hold.

   Do not tip all three greens into the pot together. Separate pans were brigade scaffolding, but separate timing is the dish.
4. 4

   Poach the tapioca

   Empty and rinse the saucepan, then add the finished chicken consommé. Bring it only to a bare simmer, about 185 to 195°F (85 to 91°C). Sprinkle in the tapioca while stirring gently and poach it for 18 to 25 minutes, until the pearls are mostly translucent and the consommé has gained the faintest weight. Keep the surface at a tremble. If the pearls begin shedding threads or the liquid turns hazy, take the pan off the heat and strain immediately; ça se rattrape while the loose starch remains in particles, but continued boiling dissolves it into the broth.

5. 5

   Strain to clarity

   Line a fine-mesh sieve with rinsed, damp butter muslin and set it over a clean heatproof bowl. Pour the consommé through under its own weight and discard the tapioca. Never squeeze or scrape the cloth, because pressure forces starch through and clouds the broth. If the cloth clogs, lift away the collected tapioca and move the remaining liquid to fresh damp muslin. Return the strained consommé to the rinsed saucepan, heat it gently without boiling, and taste for salt.

   The tapioca should not appear in the bowl. Its work is the slight silk it leaves behind after straining, not a visible pearl garnish.
6. 6

   Fill the tureen

   Warm a 3-quart soup tureen with very hot water, empty it, and dry it thoroughly. Arrange the well-drained vegetables in the tureen, distributing the five colors rather than stacking them in layers. Pour the hot consommé over the garnish at the table and serve immediately in warmed bowls, giving every guest some of each vegetable. Clear gold broth, bright vegetables, no fuss. À table!

Chef Tips

• •This recipe begins with finished chicken consommé. Ordinary chicken stock can taste splendid, but it lacks the clarification that lets every green pea and turnip pearl show through the bowl. Make or obtain the consommé first; this entry reaches for it as a finished foundation.
• •The source asks for vegetables that are fresh and young because maturity brings fibrous beans, woody asparagus, and stronger turnips. Frozen petite peas are the honest exception when fresh peas are tired; add them directly to the boiling water and blanch them only long enough to heat through.
• •Choose small pearl tapioca, not large drinking pearls. Its purpose is to lend the consommé a restrained body before being strained away, so a hard boil defeats both texture and clarity.
• •Serve this before a roast or braise, while the palate can still notice its delicacy. A restrained dry Champagne suits a dinner party, though the consommé needs no accompaniment beyond good conversation.

Advance Preparation

• •The finished chicken consommé can be prepared up to 3 days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator, or frozen for up to 3 months. Remove every trace of set surface fat before using it.
• •The five vegetables can be cut and blanched up to 6 hours ahead. Chill them separately, well drained and covered, then bring them toward room temperature for 20 minutes before they enter the warmed tureen.
• •The tapioca-bound consommé can be strained a day ahead. Reheat it gently without boiling, passing it through fresh damp muslin again if any sediment has settled. Assemble the soup only when it is going to the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)