It’s Not For Parties

Potato Soup with Mustard Greens

Hi eater-gatherers! I hope you’ve put another great week of eating and gathering in the books, and if not, perhaps this modest soup recipe can ease you into some weekend comfort cooking. 

But first, you may have noticed that it’s been nearly three months since I hosted a supper club and wrote about it. I’ve failed to keep up my end of the bargain I made with you when I told you, and I quote, “This blog will chronicle my preparations for, and recap the happenings of, my supper club.” After my household’s second bout of Covid canceled September’s dinner, I couldn’t bring myself to reschedule it, nor to schedule the next one. I think it was due to a cocktail of fatigue, fear, and avoidance in equal parts. A post-Covid emotional Negroni.

Supper clubs will resume in January, after the pleasant chaos of the holidays gives way to generally cheerful but occasionally monastic restraint. In the meantime, I will write about cooking for smaller gatherings, family parties, and sometimes just myself. I wanted to be transparent with you so you know what you’re in for should you stick with me.

And now, soup. This week was about ease and not overthinking things. I saw mustard greens at my favorite farmstand. They looked Jurassic: huge, lush, saturated with color. The largest leaves, with bright purple veins and a rough texture, looked like dinosaur skin. I immediately put some in my basket. 

I think this is either Korean red mustard or Japanese giant red mustard; please advise! But either way you see why I needed to have it.

As soon as I got home I consulted Deborah Madison re: What To Do With Mustard Greens, as I had no idea. I found a simple potato soup recipe with a mustard green variation in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I didn’t overthink it. I started chopping. 

Are onion skins not beautiful? 

In retrospect this is a bit menacing

While the potatoes and onions were on the stove, I tore off a small piece of mustard green and tasted it. I thought I was going to have to drive myself to urgent care. That wasabi-esque bite nearly split my head open, much like an errant airborne tire rim split open the head of an unfortunate storm chaser in the 1996 blockbuster Twister. I despaired, convinced the recipe was doomed. Yet I pressed on. I boiled the greens in salted water, watching as the liquid turned a very on-trend mauve. I drained, chopped, and tasted. The greens had become silken and mild. (Perhaps a little too mild; Deborah suggests boiling for 10-15 minutes, but please check on those greens at 5 and make sure they have a little fight left in ‘em.) The finished soup tastes simple. The broth is light. The potatoes are tender. It’s not for parties. It’s for quiet nights, or if your mom’s feeling a little under the weather.

Potato Soup: It’s Not For Parties

Should you need a soundtrack while you cook, might I recommend a compilation called Dancing Time by The Funkees? It’s Eastern Nigerian rock from the 70s. I love it. Or if you’re looking for an audiobook, I’m halfway through The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune (thanks for the recommendation, KM) and have rarely been more delighted or moved by a story. It’s performed so skillfully by Daniel Henning that you’ll feel like a kid who’s asked their favorite grownup to “do the voices” at read-aloud.

Happy eating and gathering, thank you for reading, and have a wonderful weekend.

Katie

---

Potato Soup with Mustard Greens

By Deborah Madison, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil or butter

2 onions, finely diced

3 small bay leaves

2 pounds potatoes, peeled

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1 bunch mustard greens

2-3 pinches red pepper flakes

Parmesan

Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and bay leaves and cook slowly. Meanwhile, quarter each potato lengthwise, then thinly slice. Irregular pieces are fine – the smaller ones will fall apart, giving body to the soup. 

Add the potatoes, raise the heat, and sauté, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to color and a glaze builds up on the bottom of the pan, about 10 minutes. At 1 ½ teaspoons salt and 1 cup water.  Scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen the solids. Add 2 quarts water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, clean the mustard greens and remove the leaves from the stems. Boil the leaves until tender and bright green, 10 to 15 minutes. (I’d suggest much shorter.) Drain the greens and coarsely chop. 

When the potatoes are soft, remove the bay leaves, taste for salt, season with pepper, and stir in the parsley. For a soup with more body, pass 1 to 2 cups through a food mill or sieve (Deborah warns that using a blender could turn the soup gummy). Stir in the chopped mustard greens and 2 to 3 pinches of red pepper flakes. (Don’t tell Deborah but I added a knob of butter to the broth to sex it up a bit.) Serve with thin shavings of parmesan over each bowl.