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| Sea Level Marker view from ground level |
A nice comfortable modern soup and the lowest elevation in North America!
Puree soups are easy to make with a food processor or a puree wand. Over 70 years ago, puree soups were highly regarded, because of the labor involved in pureeing with no electric appliances. The first few times that I made a puree soup in a restaurant kitchen, I pureed the soups the old fashioned way by forcing the soup through a fine mesh strainer. The old fashioned method does result in a finer more elegant puree soup texture. I still occasionally use the old school method of pureeing in fine restaurants and at home. Recently I received a Swiss pureeing wand as a gift, so the life of pureeing with ease has arrived. Even so, a puree soup that is made with a food processor or a puree wand is much more refined, if the soup is passed through a fine mesh strainer. Straining guarantees an even texture. Watercress contains a large amount of chlorophyl. When bruised, watercress will turn dark and the flavor is effected. For lush green peppery herb lettuces like watercress, it is better to puree with an added liquid. A hot cream soup base is the liquid puree medium for both the watercress and the tomato in this soup recipe. To do a painted or divided presentation of two soup purees, the two soups must have exactly the same consistency. A puree soup should not be thin like water. It should have a little bit of body. Many modern chefs serve puree soups that are way too thin and the result is just more slurping noises that are not elegant to deal with. A soup consistency that is too thin cannot be used for a painted presentation. Tomatoes have a higher liquid content than watercress, so the tomato puree soup must be simmered and reduced, till it becomes the same consistency as the watercress puree soup. I must admit that the painted soup design in the pictures was not what I intended it to be. My hand kind of went spastic for a moment and the design that I had planned was no longer as it was intended to be. Ce est la vie! Instead of starting over from scratch, like some kind of an anal chef of the year, I just simply went with the artistic goof. The planned concise design presentation for the soup had then turned into an interesting modern artwork presentation that is open to interpretation. What creeps me out, is that this spastic presentation design has become interesting for me to look at. It could be a map for a lost gold mine in Death Valley or ocean currents or any number of things. Who knows! All I knew, was that by messing around with a two tone puree soup presentation for too long, would result in a cold bowl soup and a muddy presentation. Knowing when to let something be, can lead to unexpected good results. As it is, this soup's presentation does have a touch of southwestern modern art influence. That made this soup recipe's photographs eligible for a sideline about another interesting place in Death Valley, California!
If you look at the photographs above of the people wandering off into the distance in the desert, you may just think that this is the place where people wander off and vanish into another dimension or something. Why on earth would people be wandering around out in a salt flat in a desert valley when the temperature is 116 degrees? Because this is Badwater! Badwater is the official lowest elevation in North America. The Badwater Basin is 282 feet below sea level. A temperature of 116 degrees is actually a nice cool midsummer day in Death Valley. Considering that the humidity is only about 4%, 116 degrees feels kind of like 95 degrees in the tropics. Okay, I must admit that I have lived in some of the hottest places on earth and the perception of temperate heat is relative. When living in Death Valley and the temperature is nearly 126 degrees for a week, a 116 degree day does seem like a mild day! On this mild midsummer day in Death Valley, visitors felt comfortable walking out to see the hexagonal salt formations in the Badwater Basin. Sea level is quite a ways up from the floor of Badwater. In the photographs above, I actually had to use a telephoto lens on a Nikon D90 camera to clearly capture the sea level signs on the rocky mountainside by Badwater. A spring feeds a stream that flows into Badwater. Badwater got its name because the water has a very high saline content. If you are on a low salt diet, then you do not want to taste the spring water fed stream at Badwater. If you are thirsty, just forget about it! People are surprised to find that some plants and animals thrive in salty water. The protected desert pupfish has been here for millions of years and it has adjusted to ever higher levels of salt in the stream at Badwater. These fish have not changed since the age of the dinosaurs. Badwater is one of many interesting places in Death Valley that are worth visiting. Badwater is a few miles south of Furnace Creek. Just head south on Badwater Road from Route 190 and you cannot miss it. The Devils Golf Course, Telescope Peak and Artist Drive are sites worth checking out along the way. Just click on one of the photos to view them all as a slide show!
This recipe makes one large serving of soup! Cream Soup Base: Heat a pot over medium/medium low heat. Add 5 pats of unsalted butter. Add an equal amount of flour, while gently whisking. Constantly stir the roux, till it becomes a white color with very little hazelnut aroma. (white roux) Add 1/2 cup of light chicken broth. Add 1 1/2 cups of milk. Add 4 ounces of cream. Add 1 tablespoon of minced onion. Add 1/2 of a minced garlic clove. Gently whisk the soup base as it heats and starts to thicken. Add sea salt and white pepper. Simmer and reduce the soup base, till it becomes a thin cream sauce consistency and till about 2 1/4 cups remain. Divide the soup base into 2 equal amount in separate containers.
Watercress Creme Soup: Pull the leaves and leaf sprig end off of 1 medium size bunch of watercress. Coarsely chop the leaves and sprigs. Add chopped watercress to one half of the soup base. Puree the watercress soup. The soup should turn green! Pour the soup through a fine mesh strainer into a sauce pot. Keep the watercress creme soup warm over very low heat.
Tomato Creme Soup: Add 1 peeled and seeded chopped plum tomato to one half of the soup base. Add 2 teaspoons of tomato paste. Add 1 small pinch of cayenne pepper. Add 1 small pinch of paprika. Puree the mixture. Pour the tomato creme soup puree through a fine mesh strainer into a sauce pot. Place the sauce pot over medium low heat. Gently simmer and reduce the soup, till it becomes the same consistency as the watercress creme soup.
Tomato Watercress Soup Presentation: Alternate adding small ladlefuls of each of the two different colored soups on each side of a soup bowl, till the bowl becomes full. Use a spoon or a spoon handle to drag each soup color into the other and try to create a painted design of some kind. Garnish with a few watercress leaves. Garnish with a tiny sprinkle of paprika.
Viola! I hope you soup painting turns out better than my spastic one did! The two soups flavors compliment each other nicely. Watercress is a natural with tomato. This is a fun approach to classic soup making! Yum! ... Shawna
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