Velouté de Noël – This rich, thick and creamy soup hides a secret, it’s made with a selection of cooked festive vegetables that are left over after Christmas dinner; roast parsnips, potatoes, carrots & sprouts are whizzed up in a Vitamix Ascent blender, on the soup setting, resulting in a hot, creamy Velouté soup in 6 minutes.
For Festive Leftover Veggies
Hello and a very Merry Christmas to you all…..Christmas Day has passed now, of course, but I am a big believer in the Twelve Days of Christmas, and for me, the holiday season is still in full mode, albeit slightly muted until New Year’s Eve and Twelfth Night. So, the big feasting day is over, until New Year’s Day, when I have a rather nice pork shoulder with crackling to cook, but, if like me you have cooked too many vegetables, then here’s a fabulous recipe to whizz up in no time in your Vitamix – I used my VITAMIX® ASCENT™ SERIES BLENDER. My new Vitamix Blender, which regular readers will know I have been using a lot on the run up to Christmas, has a handy “soup setting” which I used when I made this fabulously creamy soup, Velouté de Noël. I basically chucked all the leftover veggies into the blender jug, along with some stock, cream, herbs and seasonings, and hey presto, just over 6 minutes later there was HOT soup!
A Velouté is a French style of soup, which mirrors our “cream of” soup recipes, it’s basically a soup that is rich and creamy, hence the name, Velouté, which means “velvety”. Based on one of the “Five Mother Sauces” that the famous French chef Auguste Escoffier made popular during the 19th Century, the sauce has progressed throughout time to mean a soup that is sometimes thickened with a flour and butter roux, as the original Velouté sauce was made, or as is more commonly made now, with cream, creme fraiche or a thickened white sauce. Today’s recipe for Velouté de Noël is a simple concoction that has few ingredients, namely lots of your five-a-day vegetable leftovers. I used some on Boxing Day, for the obligatory Boxing Day Bubble and Squeak, and then popped the rest into the freezer, as we just couldn’t manage tom use them all…….I always over cater, it’s in my DNA! I defrosted the vegetables overnight in the fridge before making and enjoying the soup next day.
The recipe for my Velouté de Noël is shared below in a printable recipe card, and is an utter cinch to make, plus it gives you some of your five-a-day, as well as being elegant enough to serve for and at a New Year’s dinner party. Although the recipe was devised and created to use with a Vitamix® Ascent™, you can blend the soup in a standard blender or with a blending stick if you don’t have a Vitamix® Ascent™, YET! I can wholeheartedly recommend this amazing blender, and to date I have made cheese spread, stuffing, soups, smoothies, nut butters as well as a fabulous fruit curd…….more recipes to follow in the New Year. As well as the blender’s amazing cooking and preparation functions, I also love the “self-cleaning setting” – simply add some warm water and a drop of washing up liquid in the jug, and watch it self-clean in 60 seconds or less-no disassembly required……what a FAB feature for busy cooks. I’ll leave you with my latest soup recipe for now, and have a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR, and as my dad used to say, SEE YOU NEXT YEAR! Karen
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Velouté de Noël
Print recipe
| Serves | 4 |
| Prep time | 5 minutes |
| Cook time | 6 minutes |
| Total time | 11 minutes |
| Dietary | Vegetarian |
| Meal type | Lunch, Snack, Soup, Starter |
| Misc | Child Friendly, Serve Hot |
| Occasion | Casual Party, Christmas, Formal Party, Thanksgiving |
| Region | French |
| By author | Karen Burns-Booth |
Ingredients
- Cooked roast parsnips, potatoes, sprouts and carrots (about 450g to 500g in total weight, chopped into small chunks)
- 1 tablespoon cranberry sauce
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves (plus extra for the garnish)
- 450ml vegetable stock
- 150ml double cream
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
- handful of fresh or frozen cranberries (for the garnish)
Note
Velouté de Noël - This rich, thick and creamy soup hides a secret, it's made with a selection of cooked festive vegetables that are left over after Christmas dinner; roast parsnips, potatoes, carrots & sprouts are whizzed up in a Vitamix Ascent blender, on the soup setting, resulting in a hot, creamy Velouté soup in 6 minutes.
Directions
| Step 1 | Place all of the vegetables into the blender jug, and on variable speed 3 to 4, pulse for 30 seconds. |
| Step 2 | Add the remaining ingredients, excepting the cranberries and extra sage leaves for the garnish, and using the "soup setting" blend the soup until the setting stops, usually 6 minutes; check if the soup is hot enough to serve, if not, blend on high speed for a further 1 to 2 minutes on variable speed. |
| Step 3 | Serve in warmed soup bowls, and scatter some cranberries and chopped sage leaves over the soup for a garnish. Great when enjoyed with crusty bread for dipping and dunking! |
There are currently two different Vitamix® Ascent™ blenders available, with a further product being added to the series in early 2018, all in a variety of colours and metallic finishes meaning there’s one for every style and taste. The blenders are available for CHRISTMAS STOCKING wish lists at: Vitamix.com, Harrods, Selfridges, John Lewis, Lakeland, Steamer Trading, Brown Thomas (Ireland), and selected premium kitchen stores and at select Vitamix® retailers. Each machine comes with a technique book that offers recipes and insight into a range of culinary techniques, showing users how to put their Vitamix® to work for them for every meal.
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