Vichyssoise ZZ Top Makeover

 

 

Yesterday Daniela and I ignored all that training from childhood and played with our food.  It all started with a bland looking potato and leek soup.  Unable to let it just sit there and be plain we had to give it a complete makeover. 

We started with clothes because everyone know from watching MTV in the 1980’s that all you need is the right outfit.  I refer of course to the ZZ Top “Legs” video where the poor downtrodden shoe store girl just needed to lose her glasses, tease her hair and put on a sexy dress to rule the world (or at least get a ride in the ZZ Top Cruiser, which in 1983 was ruling the world).  Hope springs eternal to all the frizzy haired, slightly dowdy teens from that era we all learned the same lesson:

It’s all about the presentation.

For our plain little soup with the fancy name we picked tall skinny shot glasses with designs etched into the crystal.  From there we teased her hair a bit with a dollop of crème fraiche, added a couple beauty marks with cracked fresh pepper and topped it all off with an herb garnish.

And because it seemed redundant to have three glasses all the same we tweaked the flavor in each.  Vichyssoise’s delicate flavor lends itself to tweaking.  We swirled white truffle oil into one, chopped chives into another and left the last unadorned.  I wish I would have added sliced leeks with the rings askew to one of the dishes because that would have looked great and echoed the flavors of the dish.  Fried chopped shallots or fried shallot rings would have been another great addition.

So, when you’re lunching with one of the top wedding designers in Seattle (Daniela from Bella Signature Design) and want to make a splash remember this:

• Clothing counts!  Dress it up in a pretty vessel
• Remember the garnish
• Go for contrast (cracked pepper against the white crème fraiche)
• If all else fails, throw in some French colloquialisms ‘C’est le vie ‘and   ‘je na se quoi’ and cognac come to mind.

 

à la vôtre (Cheers!)