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We find ourselves at one of the most iconic scenes of Ratatouille. It's the first time Remy cooks in a professional kitchen, it's his and Linguni's meet cute, and it's the point of no return in the story. Remy has stumbled across his late hero's restaurant, and as he longingly peers into Gusteau's kitchen, he spies a clumsy Linguini butchering a pot of soup that if served, will be disastrous for the name of Gusteau, and for the name of good food.
Remy knows he shouldn't interfere, but his love for haute cuisine, and desire to uphold Gusteau's reputation, win out over his need for self preservation. Remy’s natural instinct as a chef kicks in, and he decides to take action, and in a trance like dance, rescues the soup from near disaster.
This pivotal scene does so much work with so little dialogue, it lays out a central theme of prejudice, the attitude towards rats being in a kitchen, and Remy's view that as a plongeur Linguini in a nobody, and it sets the stage for the duo's collaboration, with Remy guiding Linguini from the shadows.
It's quite tricky to tell exactly what the soup is question is, the internet seems to think it's leek and potato, but if you look closely, that doesn't seem right, as it starts out red, so is presumably tomato based. It's equally tricky to tell exactly what Remy and Linguni each add to the soup, but it appears to be a combo of: onion, leek, salt, oil, bay leaves, black pepper, garlic, stock, cream, thyme, potato, parsley, and chervil.
Our version is a tomato based vegetable soup, which includes all of the above ingredients. Now, it's hard to make soup look cute, but personally, I think that the best way to do it is to shove a load of contrasting colours and exciting looking bits and bobs on top to jazz it up. Smaller portions always look fancier, so do a little soup in a big bowl, and cover it in fun crap. We went for... a little herb oil, some crispy leeks, a sprinkling of micro parsley, and a swirl of cream. The 'oh so simple, can we even call them a recipe' recipes for the herb oil and crispy leeks can be found here.
Without further ado, grab an apron and have a soup-er time, sorry.
LINGUINI'S NEAR DISASTER SOUP
INGREDIENTS (serves 4)
1 leek - sliced
1 onion - chopped
1 large potato - peeled + cubed
3 sticks of celery - sliced
800 ml vegetable stock
150 ml double cream
2 garlic cloves - chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp tomato puree
1/4 tsp hot cayenne pepper
1 tbsp butter
1 sprig of fresh thyme- leaves only
1/2 tbsp parsley - chopped
1/2 tbsp chervil - chopped (this can be subbed for 1 tsp of tarragon)
To serve (optional)
Chopped chives
Swirl of cream
Micro herbs
METHOD
Prepare the vegetables, garlic and herbs as above, and set aside.
In a large pot on a medium heat, melt the butter with a glug of oil. Sweat the leek and onion, in the butter/oil for around 5 mins until the onion is translucent.
To the pot, add the potato and celery, continue to cook for a further 5 mins.
Add garlic, tomato puree, and cayenne pepper and and and cook for a few mins until the garlic is fragrant.
Pour in the stock. Add the bay leaves and thyme. Season with salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 10 mins.
Add the cream, parsley and chervil. Simmer for a further 5 mins, until the potato is fork tender.
Remove from the heat, and blend until smooth. Then, pass through a sieve to get the soup super smooth and silky.
Taste, and adjust seasoning to taste.
Optionally, serve topped with toppings such as a swirl of cream, micro herbs, chopped chives, herb oil, and crispy leeks.
HERB OIL
INGREDIENTS
Small bunch of herbs (we used parsley)
100 ml olive oil
Salt, to taste
METHOD
Pick off the leaves and discard the stems
Add the olive oil, a pinch of salt and blend until smooth.
Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve, lined with cheesecloth.
That's it!
Can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a few days.
CRISPY LEEKS
INGREDIENTS
1/2 leek
Neutral oil for frying - such as sunflower or groundnut
METHOD
Take half a leek and cut it in half lengthways. Then, slice into half moons as thin as you can.
Bring the oil to approx 180°C. nb: If you don't have a thermometer, throw a piece of leek into the oil, and if it immediately starts bubbling, the oil is ready.
Fry the leeks for 2 - 3 mins in the hot oil until browned and crispy.
Drain on kitchen roll and season to taste with kosher salt.
Nb: I like to place the leeks in small batches into a small metal sieve and fry them inside the sieve. This makes it easier to remove the leeks from the oil, as they cook so quickly it's easy to burn them!
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