Golden Vegetable Soup: a Forgotten Childhood Staple

My sister called me the other day, asking me for my mother’s soup recipe. This is the soup we grew up on, the soup my mother served us for lunch on so many cloudy Parisian days when she was feeling uninspired. We complained about this golden vegetable soup, bored to tears by its simplicity and predictability, but now we crave it as adults. This soup was such a staple of our childhood that I was surprised I had never written about it here. It’s what I make for new mothers and sick friends: pure simple goodness in a bowl.

I make this vegetable soup all the time, but have never given it much thought. It’s a thrown together soup, a clean the crisper drawer production. So simple it didn’t seem worth writing about, but the simple things in life shouldn’t be overlooked.

“You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces — just good food from fresh ingredients.”

~ Julia Child

The truth is that there is no standard recipe for my vegetable soup, just like there wasn’t for my mother. You need a potato for sweetness and texture, and a bunch of pretty carrots for color and taste. Throw in an onion and some celery to give it some flavor, but the rest is really based on what you have on hand in your veggie drawer.

My soup differs from my mom’s with the addition of one secret weapon: parmesan rind. I buy a few chunks of leftover parmesan rind from Eataly or Marion Street Cheese Market, my local cheesemonger sources, and store them in the freezer. Tossed into this soup base, it infuses it with great flavor and richness.

I love to throw whatever fall bounty seduced me at the supermarket in this soup. This week, I added parsnips and sweet potato to my vegetable soup base. Next week, I might throw in some broccoli, peas, or spinach. I love that the soup changes and morphs with the season, adapting, as we all should, to what the earth is giving us that week.

No matter what you add to the basic vegetable soup base of potato, carrots, celery and onion, you’ll find that this soup satisfies, in the deepest way possible. When I fill Juju’s thermos with this golden soup, she’s still going strong when school lets out at 3:15, and I am too. No other lunch keeps us going in quite the same way, fueled by simple yet hearty vegetable goodness.

Yield: 4-6

Author: Vanessa Druckman

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Golden Vegetable Soup: a Forgotten Childhood Staple

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 40 Min

This simple vegetable soup is the soup I grew up on, the soup my mother served us for lunch on so many cloudy Parisian days. I would complain about it, bored to tears by its simplicity and predictability, but now as an adult, I crave it. It's also what I bring to sick friends and new mothers. Food for the soul and the body.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 onion, diced small
• 1 russet potato, peeled and coarsely chunked
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and coarsely chunked
• 1 celery rib
• 6 to 8 carrots, peeled and coarsely sliced
• 1 parsnip, peeled and coarsely chunked
• 1 4 inch parmesan rind
• 6 cups of water

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil.
2. Add the onion and sauté for 2 -3 minutes until glistening.
3. Add the remaining vegetables and sauté for 10 minutes, until everything is lightly caramelized.
4. Now add the parmesan rind and the water. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to medium. Cover and cook for 30 minutes, until all the vegetables are easily pierced with a fork.
5. Remove the parmesan rind, it will be pretty melty. Throw it out and thank it for doing a great favor.
6. Using a blender or a hand blender, puree the soup. I like mine pretty thick and chunky. If you like yours thinner, add a little more water.
7. This soup will keep in your fridge for up to 5 days, giving you many happy lunches.