Summer Soup

kesäkeitto / snålsoppa

It's been a while since I featured a really really Finnish dish on this blog, bilberry pies aside. This is a somewhat controversial one, I think mostly because either the thought of vegetables in boiled milk puts you off, or it doesn't. (Insta-poll of six Finns in their mid-twenties to early forties says four in favor and two vehemently against.) It also has a slightly sweet taste to it, not just because of the milk but also because you're using the newest of the new season's vegetables, which of course are naturally sweet.


The recipe comes from Farmors Café, a restaurant in the Finnish archipelago close to where our summer island is. I've never actually had summer soup there, but it's worth a visit for the cakes alone. :P

Summer Soup
serves four

1½ l (6 cups) season's new vegetables, cut into chunks (carrot, spring onion, leek, caulflower, parsnip, sugarsnap & radish)
½ l ( 2 cups) small new potatoes, cut into chunks
1 l (4 cups) vegetable broth

2 tbsp flour
200 ml (7 fl oz)milk
200 ml (7 fl oz) "cooking" cream (about 5-15% fat)
100 ml (3&frac; fl oz) cream cheese

salt, pepper & sugar to taste

parsley & a few thinly sliced radishes to serve

Simmer the vegetables (save for the green parts of the spring onion) in vegetable broth until about half-done, then add the onion greens. In a separate pan, heat the milk and cream until almost boiling, then whisk in the flour. Pour into the soup pan (through a sieve if it's lumpy in spite of the whisking), add the cream cheese and continue cooking until the vegetables are done - you want them to be fairly soft but by no means mushy or anything. Season with salt, pepper and (optionally) a pinch of sugar. Serve with parsley and sliced radish sprinkled on top.