Consommé Chartreuse

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •3-quart (2.8 L) lidded soupière or soup tureen
• •6-quart (5.7 L) stockpot for poaching
• •3-quart (2.8 L) saucepan for the consommé
• •Small saucepan for the tomato dice
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Wire spider or perforated skimmer
• •Lint-free kitchen towel

Instructions

1. 1

   Warm the tureen

   Fill a 3-quart soupière or soup tureen with the hottest tap water, cover it, and leave it to warm while the soup is finished. A cold tureen steals heat quickly from a clear broth, and this consommé has no heavy pot around it to hold the temperature.

2. 2

   Cook the tapioca

   Bring 2 quarts of the water to a boil in a saucepan. Sprinkle in the tapioca while stirring, then lower the heat and simmer gently for 12 to 18 minutes, until the pearls are almost entirely translucent, with only the smallest white point at their centers. Drain them through a fine sieve and rinse briefly with warm water until the runoff is clear. If the pearls have clumped, tease them apart under the water with a spoon; ça se rattrape. This separate cooking is the home equivalent of a kitchen holding consommé au tapioca ready for service, and it keeps loose starch out of the tureen.

3. 3

   Heat the consommé

   Pour 8 cups of the chicken consommé into a clean saucepan and add the drained tapioca. Bring it slowly to the barest simmer, with only an occasional movement at the edge, then hold it there. The tapioca should appear as little glass beads in the broth, never enough to thicken it. Taste for seasoning, remembering that a properly prepared consommé should already be balanced; do not reduce it hard or its salt will concentrate.

4. 4

   Poach the tomato

   Bring the reserved 1 cup of consommé to a gentle simmer in a small saucepan. Add the tomato dice and poach for 30 to 60 seconds, just until warmed and slightly tender while still holding their neat shape. Lift them into a fine sieve and drain thoroughly. If the poaching consommé has taken on seeds, pulp, or red color, do not return it to the serving broth. That small sacrifice protects the clarity of the whole tureen.

5. 5

   Poach the ravioles

   Ten minutes before serving, bring the remaining 4 quarts of water to a full boil with the salt, then lower it to a lively but controlled simmer. Poach the spinach-purée Ravioli (No. 2296), foie-gras-purée Ravioli (No. 2296), and mushroom Ravioli (No. 2296) in three successive batches so the fillings remain identifiable. Stir once very gently to prevent sticking, then cook until the wrappers are tender and the ravioles rise, following the finished component's timing. Lift each batch with a spider, let it drip over the pot, and place it without crowding on a lint-free towel. If one ruptures, ça se rattrape: remove it and any loose filling, quiet the water, and continue. The serving consommé remains untouched, which is precisely why the separate poach matters.

   Boiling violence, not time alone, splits a delicate raviole. Once the pasta enters, keep the water moving enough to prevent sticking but never thrashing against the pot.
6. 6

   Fill the tureen

   Empty and dry the warmed tureen. Arrange the three kinds of drained ravioles and the drained tomato dice inside, distributing the colors rather than piling them. Pour over the hot consommé and translucent tapioca, working gently so the ravioles stay whole. Scatter the chervil pluches across the surface, cover, and carry the tureen directly to the table. Serve four or five ravioles in each bowl with plenty of clear broth. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The consommé is the foundation, not a background liquid. Use one clear enough to see the bowl of a spoon through, with enough natural gelatin to feel rounded rather than watery. Ordinary cloudy chicken stock makes a pleasant soup, but it does not make Consommé Chartreuse.
• •Prepare the spinach, foie-gras, and mushroom Ravioli (No. 2296) as finished components before beginning this entry. Keep them cold and lightly covered so the wrappers neither dry and crack nor grow damp and sticky.
• •Choose small pearl tapioca, not instant tapioca flakes. The pearls should become translucent and remain distinct; flakes dissolve and give the consommé a thickness the source never intended.
• •Use a firm plum tomato with dense flesh and few seeds. Canned tomatoes are excellent in the pot but wrong here, where soft flesh and loose juice would bleed into the clear broth.
• •A very dry Champagne suits the fine broth and rich foie gras without flattening the spinach or mushroom. Pour modestly; the consommé should remain the first taste.

Advance Preparation

• •The chicken consommé may be completed up to 3 days ahead, chilled promptly, and kept covered. Remove every trace of set fat before reheating, since floating fat dulls the brilliance of the finished soup.
• •The spinach, foie-gras, and mushroom Ravioli (No. 2296) may be prepared 1 day ahead and refrigerated in a single layer, or frozen in a single layer and transferred to covered containers. Poach frozen ravioles without thawing, allowing a little extra time.
• •The tomato may be peeled, seeded, and diced several hours ahead. Keep it covered and cold, then drain away any juice before poaching.
• •Cook the tapioca and poach the ravioles near service. Do not assemble the tureen ahead, because the wrappers continue absorbing broth and the tapioca loses its clean, separate texture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 250g)