A potato chard soup variation that I found in my backyard. Jump to Recipe

When I’m planting the fall garden in July, I am thinking about soups like this. I know there will be a day in early spring when a soup craving will hit, and I will wander out to the yard to see what I can find, so I make sure I have bed full of root veggies snoozing in the chilly ground. There’s lots of garlic in this soup, because at this time of year I need to use or lose the garlic I grew the summer before.

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Most of the things in this soup came from my yard, either pulled within an hour of dinner, or stored from earlier in the season. It is adaptable- you can make it with just potatoes, or whatever you can find like turnips, beets, or parsnips. In my version, the magic ingredient is a white beet. A couple of years ago, one of these appeared from a planting of red beet seeds. I pulled it up to fill out a borscht when I was running low on red beets, and WOW. These are the beets they make sugar out of. They add sweetness to what could easily become a muddy and sulfurous soup. Now I always add a row to my fall garden so I can throw one into soups for extra sweetness. If you don’t have one, take extra care when caramelizing the onions, and maybe sub in a parsnip or sweet carrot.

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Garlicky root vegetable soup with Greens and Horseradish Cream

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Ingredients for the soup

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• 3 medium potatoes

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• 1-2 rutabagas

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• 1 white beet

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• 1 yellow onion

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• 2 HEADS of garlic

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• 1 stick of unsalted butter

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• 4-6 c unsalted or low-sodium Chicken stock

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• 1-2 c sour cream, mixed with prepared horseradish to taste

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• Bay Leaf

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• Fresh grated Nutmeg

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• White Pepper

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• Black Pepper

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• Salt to taste

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Ingredients for the Greens

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• Rainbow chard

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• Shallot or 1/4 onion

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• 1 dry red pepper

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• 2 T butter

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• salt and pepper

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Tools

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• sharp knife and cutting board

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• vegetable peeler

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• heavy-bottomed soup pan or dutch oven

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• immersion blender is handy, some sort of blender or food processor is necessary

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• colander or strainer

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• saute pan

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Directions

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When you make this recipe, concentrate on developing sweetness by cooking the vegetables slowly in the butter. If you rush this, you will encourage harsh and sulfurous flavors.

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1. Small dice your onion. Melt the stick of butter in the dutch oven over medium-low heat, and when the water has sizzled out, add the onion and stir to coat. Drop in the bay leaf. Cover the pan.

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2. Cook the onion slowly, allowing it to become very soft and translucent.

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3. While the onion is sweating, peel and chop your potatoes, rutabagas, and beet. This should feel relaxed. If you are worried, turn the onions down lower.

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4. When the onion is just starting to turn golden at the edges, add your root vegetables and stir to coat with butter.

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5. Continue cooking everything slowly, stirring occasionally, while you peel all of the garlic.

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6. To peel the garlic, I separate all the cloves from the head, and then whack each one firmly enough to crack it a little but not enough to smash it. You want them mostly whole for this recipe. Then I pick them out of their skins. Again, the pace should be relaxed, we want those root veggies to really get to know that butter.

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7. When the garlic is peeled and the veggies have lost their raw look and are beginning to pick up some color, add the garlic and stir to coat with butter. Cook for another minute or two, watching and stirring frequently. It should look like this:

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Next Steps

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1. Add chicken stock to cover the veggies so they move freely when you stir, and bring up to a simmer. Slowly cook until the veggies are tender.

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2. If you have an immersion blender, use it to puree the soup. If you don’t, take the soup off of the heat for a little while to bring the temperature down, and then blend in a blender or food processor, and return the puree to the pan and bring the heat back up to a slow simmer.

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3. Add more chicken stock if it seems too thick, and stir in about 1c of the horseradish cream. If you aren’t sure about that, add a little at a time and taste as you go.

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4. Grate a bit of nutmeg, 1/8t or so, and add it along with some white and black pepper and salt. Adjust the seasonings until you like it.

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5. The butter and sour cream should add fats, the sour cream and prepared horseradish adds acidity, and the veggies have sweetness. If any of those flavors need adjusting, start with salt. Then consider a small amount of cider vinegar, or a touch of sugar. Especially if you didn’t have a white beet. A good trick is to pull a little bit of soup out of the pot and into a bowl, and experiment with seasoning on a small scale.

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For the Greens

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1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.

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2. Rinse the chard, and blanche it in the water just long enough for it to go limp and the water to come back to a boil.

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3. Drain the chard in a strainer, and rinse it with cold water to arrest cooking. (or use an ice bath if you’re fancy)

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4. Squeeze out the chard, you’ll have a wet green handful. Slice that into ribbons about 1/2″ thick. Make sure to cut the stems into nice little pieces.

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5. Mince the shallot

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6. Melt 2T butter in the sauce pan over medium-high, and toss in the dried red pepper. When the water finishes sizzling out of the butter, add 2-3 tablespoons of vinegar, and as it comes to a boil, toss in the chard.

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7. Toss the chard around in the pan to coat it, while cooking briskly to evaporate excess moisture. Add salt and pepper, and remove it to a bowl before the greens lose their color.

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Plating

Put the puree in a warm bowl, and top with a serving of greens, a dollop of horseradish cream, and a twist of pepper. Serve it with fresh sourdough bread.

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Did you try it?

Let us know what you think! We’d love to see pictures and hear about your results.

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