Recipes for wives and maids: White Soup

Ingredients

4 medium sized potatoes
2 onions
2 sticks of celery
1 tablespoon of butter
Quart of boiling water or white stock
2 sprigs of parsley
1 tiny piece of lemon peel
2 or 3 peppercorns
Salt
½ pint of milk
1 tablespoon of semolina or tapioca

To finish:

Fried bread and grated cheese
Finely chopped parsley

Method

Wash, peel and slice four medium-sized potatoes, two onions and two sticks of celery. Melt one tablespoon of butter in a saucepan, add the vegetables, and stir them about, but do not let them brown.

Add a quart of the boiling water or white stock (made from poultry, mutton or veal bones), two sprigs of parsley, a tiny piece of lemon peel, two or three peppercorns and salt to taste. Boil gently until the vegetables are soft. Rub through a wire sieve.

Rinse out the saucepan, return the soup and when it boils stir in half a pint of milk. When it reboils sprinkle in one tablespoon of semolina or crushed tapioca and simmer for eight minutes more. 

Serve with croutons of fried bread and some grated cheese. Or finely-chopped parsley may be sprinkled on the top.

 

Recipe orignally appeared in the Irish Independent.