Sorrel Vichyssoise

Monday November 19

Another main dish from Epicurious designed to get the last lovely taste of our garden greens.

We pulled up some of the precious few leeks that came up this year, and our still-abundant sorrel and chives. The soup was scrumptious hot as well as cold, and the potatoes gave it enough body to make it an entire meal.

Sorrel has two faces. As one of the reviewers complained, the half-pound required by this recipe cost about $20 where s/he lives. Also, the book-minded remember only the elegant dinner from Brideshead Revisited when they hear of sorrel soup. But another reviewer (like Barbara), was reminded of his Polish grandmother's recipe, and yet another pointed out that s/he was growing sorrel in a pot in a Manhattan apartment, and it grew like a weed - as indeed it is.

It's hard to grow sorrel from seed, but a healthy plant will spread to the point of being invasive, and little runners come off it in late summer and can be transplanted. The flavor is light and lemony, unless you overcook it (as my grandmother did), when it becomes sour. She thought it cleared the blood; modern health-mavens would say it contains antioxidants, or lutein, or something. Have we mentioned that we don't care? It is delicious.