Crecy Soup

Preamble
"Two small towns dispute the title to carrot soups and purees in France - Crecy-en-Ponthieu, the site of the English victory in 1346, up near Abbeville, and Crecy-en-Brie, to the east of Paris, in the cheese and sugar-beet district of the Marne. Both areas grow good root crops. I'm sure battle associations are not intended; the French - or any other nation - would never commemorate their own defeat, a notable defeat, with such a lasting monument as this excellent soup."

Ingredients
1/2 lb Carrots sliced
Medium Onion chopped
1 oz Rice
1 1/4 pints Veal or Chicken Stock
Sprig Thyme
5 oz Butter
3 1/2 inch slices Bread cubed

Method

Simmer carrots and onion in a covered pan, with 2 oz of the butter for about 10 minutes. Don't let them brown. Add rice, stock and thyme - which is most important to the flavour. Cook gently for 20-30 minutes. Remove thyme stalk, and sieve or liquidise the soup adding more stock if necessary. Reheat. Stir in 1 oz butter just before serving. Meanwhile, fry the bread dice in the last 2 oz butter. Serve with the soup.

Wonderful flavour apart, the muted orange of the carrots and the golden cubes of bread makes this soup a beautiful start to an evening meal, however grand. If you use a good home-made stock, rather than a stock cube, the flavour will repay the extra trouble.

Remarks
Appeared on menu: Crecy Soup set menu $11.00 (Carrots and onions cooked in chicken stock - served with croutons)