Chivyssoise, a new invention

So after I had some ideas to offer a friend suffering from a surfeit of spuds, I thought, I could do one of those myself. To wit, vichyssoise soup. Leek and potato.

This not being a time when you can pop to the shop to pick up a thing or two, I had to go with what I had.

Plenty of potatoes, onions, chicken stock powder, but no leeks. Thyme but no marjoram. I thought chives, another oniony relative, might work. A handful of fresh cut, now I have to let the pot recover, and another handful from the freezer.

If you have a mandolin, this is where you could use it, to slice up five large potatoes. I tried the slicing side of a grater, but ended up using my big knife. I had to cook longer to allow for the slices being a bit thicker than the recipe demands.

If I do this again, I'll snip the chives before cooking. I thought they might disintegrate as they cooked, which they didn't. Ended up rescuing them from the blade of the immersion blender, and then snipping them.

I also have no bay leaves, but use curry leaves in their place, used a lot in Indian vegetarian cooking, for deep flavoring.

No cream, so I mixed a strong batch of powdered whole milk.

Only seasoning was kosher salt and white pepper.

As you see, the color is a pale green, quite appetizing, and the flavor is amazingly good considering how few ingredients were in it. If you use leeks you use only the white bulbs, and get white soup.

And since chives were important, I've named it Chivyssoise.  I had it hot, but you can have it traditionally cold if you like cold soup.

Ten minutes later. Critic's choice.