Consommé à la Mégère (Shrew Consommé)

Ingredients

• Consommé ordinaire clair (clear ordinary consommé)
• Potatoes (Hollande variety)
• 4 egg yolks per pound of potato pulp Egg yolks
• generous amount Chervil (cerfeuil), chopped
• Salt
• Lettuce, chiffonade (lettuce, thin ribbon-cut)
• Vermicelli (coarse, gros vermicelle)

Instructions

1. Prepare a clear ordinary consommé by standard method and keep hot.
2. For the principal garnish: Roast several Hollande potatoes in the oven until cooked. Remove the pulp and press it vigorously through a sieve until smooth. Bind this purée with egg yolks at a ratio of 4 yolks per pound of potato. Mix in a generous quantity of chopped chervil.
3. Shape this mixture into small gnocchi (gnokis) the size of a hazelnut. Poach them in salted water for 10 minutes just before service.
4. For the complementary garnish: Prepare a chiffonade of lettuce and poach coarse vermicelli separately in salted water.
5. To serve: Pour the hot consommé into bowls and garnish with the potato gnocchi, chiffonade of lettuce, and poached vermicelli.