Polish summer vegetable soup with cauliflower, green beans and dill
A soup from what the market stall holds in June and July: young carrot, parsley root, leek, potatoes, cauliflower, green beans and peas, on a light stock, finished with sour cream and buried in dill. The secret is the order: root vegetables first, cauliflower and beans for the last ten minutes, so they stay firm and bright rather than grey.
Your own work in that: 30 min.
- Chopping 20 min
- Cooking 30 min
- Sour cream and dill 10 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneChop the vegetables
Peel the carrot, parsley root and celeriac and cut into 1 cm dice, the leek into half-moons, the potatoes into 1.5 cm cubes. Break the cauliflower into small florets, top and tail the beans and cut into 3 cm pieces. Similar-sized pieces cook evenly.
Ingredients: 3 pcs carrots · 1 pcs parsley root · 1 pcs celeriac, a piece · 1 pcs leek, white part · 400 g potatoes · ½ pcs cauliflower · 200 g green beans · 150 g green peas · 30 g butter · 1800 ml vegetable or chicken stock · 1 pcs bay leaf · 3 pcs allspice berries · 1 tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper
Centimetre dice, florets, beans in 3 cmSweat the roots in butter
Melt the butter in a large pot, add the carrot, parsley root, celeriac and leek. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring, until fragrant and slightly softened. A few minutes in butter deepens the flavour and sweetness of the roots.
TipThis step is what separates vegetable soup from water with vegetables. Don't brown them, just warm them through in fat.
Five minutes in butter, no browningSimmer with the potatoes
Pour in the hot stock, add the potatoes, bay leaf and allspice. Bring to the boil and simmer 15 minutes, until the potatoes are nearly tender.
Stock, potatoes, a quarter hourAdd the cauliflower, beans and peas
Add the cauliflower and beans, cook 8 minutes. For the last 3 minutes add the peas. The vegetables should be tender but hold their shape and colour; overcooked cauliflower makes the soup cloudy and grey.
TipFrozen peas go in without thawing, straight into the simmering soup. Fresh shelled peas need about the same, 3–4 minutes.
Cauliflower and beans eight minutes, peas threeFinish with sour cream
Whisk the sour cream with the flour until smooth, temper with three tablespoons of hot soup, pour into the pot while stirring. Bring to the boil and cook 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the bay leaf and allspice.
Ingredients: 150 g sour cream, 18 % · 1 tbsp plain flour · 1 bunch dill
TipTempering, that is thinning the cream with hot soup before it goes in, stops it curdling. The flour stabilises it further and thickens the soup slightly.
Cream with flour, tempered, two minutesDill and serving
Stir the chopped dill into the pot just before serving, keep some for the top. Serve with bread. Keeps 2 days in the fridge; reheat without boiling so the vegetables don't go soft.
Plenty of dill, straight into the bowl
Before you start
With drop noodles
An egg beaten with 3 tablespoons of flour and a pinch of salt, poured in a thin stream into the boiling soup before the cream. The filling version for children.
Without cream
Instead of the cream, a tablespoon of butter stirred in at the end and the juice of half a lemon. Lighter, sharper.
In autumn
Swap the cauliflower and beans for diced pumpkin and halved Brussels sprouts; the peas stay. Same method, different season.
