Luis & DJ eat again

OK, this was less planned than the last dinner with DJ, and I am proud to have invented a new dish in the process. I call it The Luis, out of pure hubris. When I die, I will live on in recipe form.

I bothered DJ for a dustpan and ended up inviting him up for dinner (which sounds like a hilarious premise for a porno, now that I think about it; "Is that a dustpan in your hand?" [cue porn guitar]). He went out and bought some wine (great wine, by the way DJ!) and bread and milk, and I set about throwing together The Luis (see below). With our apéritifs, we had baby pink radishes with this awesome smoked-salt butter. As DJ can attest, you could smear this butter on cardboard and it would be delicious. It's that good.

After a mountain of salade frisée, we had The Luis, and then seared tuna fillet (finally!). At this point, we were so full we were ready to burst. We skipped the cheese course and the dessert, which is just as well, since I was already later for a date with friends for drinks over at Bastille.

I headed out to meet the same friends that I had seen last Saturday, who had also brought another pair of friends. We had a few rounds of drinks at a bar on rue de Lappe (near Bastille) called Sister May. After a great night of chatting and comparing favourite music bio-flicks, we made plans to meet again on Friday and headed our separate ways home.

The Luis: mashed purple potatoes and green leek soup

Ingredients

The Potatoes

• About 500gr of purple / vitelotte / "all blue" potatoes, whole
• 2 large white or yellow onions, sliced in paper-thin half-rounds.
• 1/2-cup of butter for potatoes, 2 tbsp. for onions
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (optional)
• splash of sweet vermouth or sherry
• 1/2-1 cup of milk
• 1/2-cup of creme fraiche (or sour cream)

The Leek Soup

• 2 large leeks with the greens still on
• 1/2-cup of butter
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed or chopped
• One onion, chopped finely
• 1-2 cup(s) of stock or water
• 1/2-cup of milk
• 1/2-cup of crème fraîche (or sour cream)

Preparation

The Potatoes

1. Rinse potatoes but DO NOT peel them. Without their peels, purple potatoes go grey in water.
2. Put is saucepan or stock pot, cover with water and boil until tender (easily pierced with a fork)
3. In the meanwhile, slice onions and put them in saucepan with butter over medium heat. Cover (you can also add sage and/or oregano for flavour here).
4. When the onions are beginning to brown to the bottom of the pan, deglaze with vermouth and reduce heat.
5. When potatoes are ready, drain, cut into cubes, and return to pot along with butter. (You can remove the peels if you don't like them, but the results are tastier and more vibrantly purple if you leave them on.)
6. Mash potatoes roughly with spoon or whisk (or use a ricer if you prefer a smooth mash).
7. Add 1/2-cup of milk and 1/2-cup of creme fraiche, stir briskly into potatoes. Keep on adding milk until the mixture is creamy but not too thin.
8. Add onions with pan drippings and mix through

The Leek Soup

1. Cut up leeks into small chunks and place in pot with butter over medium heat to sweat. Make sure you wash the leeks well! They pick up grit very easily. Also, trim off the ends, but make use of the more mild green ends as well for a better-looking soup.
2. Chop onions and add. Sautee the entire mixture until reduced and soft.
3. Add garlic.
4. When garlic has mellowed, add 1 cup of stock and simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.
5. Add milk and creme fraiche. Blend with wand mixer or stand mixer until smooth.
6. Add more stock if too thick.

Plating

1. In a deep bowl, take purple potato mash and spread in a thick layer around the bottom and sides of the bowl.
2. Pour leek soup in the middle
3. Serve.