Creamy Pareve Potato Soup

12 servings

I found this in “The Kosher Palette,” a cookbook of the Jewish Kushner Hebrew Academy in Livingston.

• 1½ T. oil
• 4 large peeled, halved Idaho potatoes
• 3 peeled, thinly sliced carrots
• 1½ T. flour
• ½ t. salt
• ½ t. paprika
• 8 cups water
• ½ cup non-dairy creamer
• ½ whole peeled onion
• 1 celery rib
• 1½ bay leaves
• Chopped fresh parsley

1. Heat oil in a soup pot. Add potatoes and sauté constantly for 3-5 minutes.
2. Add carrots. Stir in flour, salt and paprika. Add water, creamer, onion, celery and bay leaves.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce flame, cover and simmer 1½ hours, stirring occasionally to prevent potatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Remove onion, celery and bay leaves.
4. Pour into bowls and garnish with parsley.

For a smooth version, transfer in batches to a blender, process until smooth and return to pot to reheat.

Potage Fermiere (Farmer’s Soup)

6-8 servings

This dairy recipe, which I modified, comes from an old newspaper.

• 1 finely chopped medium onion
• 1 T. unsalted pareve margarine
• 2 peeled and diced potatoes
• 6 cups pareve chicken stock
• 1 bunch split, sliced leeks
• ½ t. dry tarragon
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 T. finely chopped parsley
• 6 T. pareve unsalted whipping cream
• Parmesan cheese

1. In a soup pot, sauté onion in margarine until glazed. Add potatoes and pareve chicken stock. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
2. Add leeks, tarragon, salt, pepper and pareve whipping cream. Cover and simmer 10 minutes or until leeks are tender.
3. Mash mixture with a potato masher or puree in a blender. Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with parsley.

Pass Parmesan cheese to sprinkle.

Sybil Kaplan, z”l, was a journalist, author, compiler/contributor/editor of nine kosher cookbooks (working on a 10th) and food writer for North American Jewish publications. She lived in Jerusalem. She wrote the kosher Jerusalem restaurant features for Janglo.net, the oldest, largest website for English speakers, from 2014 to 2020.