The Art Of The 'Velouté'

We always buy too many veggies that get funny looking after awhile. Then we have broccoli stem leftovers, too much tomato salad getting soggy in its balsamic vinegar, limp celeries and green onions, chicken stock saved last week and looking lonely in the fridge. Throw it all together with a few onions and carrots, a small potato, then heat/stir the pot violently for 10 minutes in 2 tblsp of olive oil, mixing in a little cilantro and parsley, garlic, a touch of tarragon, chili, ginger and lemon pepper, not enough to be able to identify any of these. The secret of a good velouté is too make it like a good crowd at a concert, a diffuse hush of applause and no one standing up yelling 'bravo' like an idiot
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The real secret however is white pepper, applied generously AFTER the entire mix was propelled to heaven in a moderate speed blender, leaving tiny morcels of mystery. It is a solemn duty for every Frenchman on earth to bring to America both the velouté and the white pepper. They are missing out on something great. It's true that Colonel Sanders's secret herbs and spices is actually WHITE PEPPER, nothing else. This is a proven fact. Chicken and white pepper fit together like papa into mama. And a good velouté is on par with good sex. But unfortunately for French cuisine better than good sex is still hard to beat. Here's an idea: on a frisky autumn night, have sex and then soup, velouté of course, with a toasted and buttered French bread tip and a good Shiraz.