fennel and tomato soup - les halles

Alright listen up numbnuts! ...is what Tony would probably say but I'm not a chef, a world traveler or a great writer like Anthony Bourdain. I received my Les Halles Cookbook in the mail a few weeks ago but I haven't been able to cook with it until just recently. It's a fantastic book and I highly recommend it if you don't already own a copy. Not only does it contain pages of French brasserie recipes, Bourdain's witty writing makes it a fun, enjoyable read.

Have the book already but haven't cooked with it yet? Good. Pay close attention to what I'm about to say next. Summarize the directions before you start to cook because reading this book while cooking may result in painful, burning and/or bloody injuries. Do yourself everyone a favor and definitely keep this book away while prepping vegetables or with a knife in hand. This book is just that funny.

(les halles cookbook, photo credit: leshalles.net)

Another aspect of Les Halles that I really admired was Tony's reassurance that anyone and everyone can cook the recipes in his book. If you're an avid watcher of No Reservations (if you aren't, why the hell aren't you?) you'll know that the cooks in Tony's New York restaurant are almost, if not all, Hispanics that started out with zero cooking knowledge. Too time consuming or the recipe takes up more than 1 page? Fear not friends for it isn't that difficult. Breathe. Relax. Cooking is supposed to be fun. The cassoulet recipe that takes 2 days to make and is 3 pages long? It's easy. I just wish I could find the ingredients in my college town to cook the damn thing. That being said, it was really inspiring read his words that encouraged people to grow out of their fears and to challenge themselves in the kitchen.

I've been fascinated/inspired by Jimmy's ongoing series at Eat It, Atlanta so I'm going to start my own...right now! The Les Halles series. Through this series, I want to share my culinary experiences with you as I cook from the Les Halles Cookbook. I'm hoping to cook all of the recipes at least once by this time next year (easier said than done. I'll probably get sidetracked).

(the meez for this recipe, potatoes underneath the onions/garlic)

I'm not sure what the legal protocols are with posting book recipes so I'll play it safe and not post the recipe. The last thing I need is a lawyer knocking on my front door. I will however describe my cooking process and results.

First, I sweated down the fennels, onions, potatoes and a clove of minced garlic until they softened. The next step told me to add 8 oz. of canned plum tomatoes but that seemed like an eyebrow-raising small amount to me. I changed up the recipe and added just under two times the original amount of tomatoes and cooked that with the rest of the vegetables a little longer. After sweating down everything for awhile, in goes in your chicken stock. Bring this baby back up to a boil and let it simmer for an hour to let it reduce. After an hour, puree the mixture in batches in a blender (while still hot) until at your desired consistency. The soup's hard to fix if it's too thin so I intentionally keep the soup a little thick to begin with and dilute it as I go. Once it's at a pretty good consistency, I season with salt and pepper. It's that simple. There's 5 ingredients to this recipe, 6 if you count the clove of garlic I deviated from the original recipe.

The verdict? It's a fine soup. Great for a rainy day (like today in Georgia, what the hell Seattle come pick up your weather) and a healthy way to enjoy something delicious that's not out of a can. Next time, I think I'll stick with the original amount of tomatoes as I felt that it did overpower the fennel a little bit. The slight anisey flavor was still there but any more tomatoes and it would've become completely tomato soup. Have I not convinced you enough yet? Order the freaking book already!

*Disclaimer - I'm not being paid by Tony, his publishers or anyone financially related to Tony in my support of this awesome book.