Russian Potato and Mushroom Leek Soup

The new year has settled into place, and with it the particular January quiet of a house that has been noisy with holiday guests. James went back to school. Carrie went back. Robert returned to the office. And I returned to the library, after using Wednesday to take stock.

I stood in the kitchen on Wednesday morning and made a list. Not resolutions — I don't believe in resolutions. I made a list of truths. True things about my life as I enter 2017: I am forty-six years old. My marriage, while not healed, is healing. My children are healthy, intelligent, and finding their way. My mother is alive but declining. My sister is happy. My father is dead and I still miss him. I am a librarian. I want to be a writer. These two things are not in conflict.

I also wrote: I want to write Mama's cookbook. Not this year — I'm not ready, and neither are the recipes, which are still in her hands and her memory, and as long as she can cook, the recipes are alive. But someday. When the time comes. I will be ready.

I made winter vegetable soup — a pot of whatever was in the crisper: turnips, carrots, potatoes, onion, celery, a handful of kale. It is the January soup, the one that asks nothing and provides everything, the culinary equivalent of a deep breath.

Dr. Ellis asked me at our Thursday session what I hope for in 2017. I said, "I hope to be braver." She said, "Braver how?" I said, "Braver about the things I want. I have spent my life being brave about the things other people need — Joy's care, Robert's affair, Mama's aging, the children's futures. I want to be brave about something that is just mine." She said, "Like the cookbook?" I said, "Like the cookbook." She said, "Then start." I said, "I'm not ready." She said, "No one ever is."

The soup I described — turnips, carrots, potatoes, onion, celery, kale — is the loose, improvisational version I make when the crisper makes the decisions for me. But when I want to be more intentional about it, when I want the January soup to have a little more gravity and depth, I turn to this Russian potato and mushroom leek soup, which my friend Vera taught me years ago and which has lived in my winter rotation ever since. It has the same spirit as the crisper soup — humble, grounding, undemanding — but the mushrooms give it an earthiness that feels right for a season of honest reckoning.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium leeks, white and light green parts only, sliced and rinsed
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound cremini or baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
6 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons sour cream, plus more for serving
2 tablespoons fresh dill or flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Instructions

Sweat the aromatics. Melt butter in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the leeks and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and just beginning to turn golden, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
Brown the mushrooms. Add the sliced mushrooms to the pot in a single layer as best you can. Resist stirring for the first 3–4 minutes to let them develop color. Then stir and continue cooking until the mushrooms have released their liquid and it has mostly evaporated, about 5 more minutes. Season lightly with salt.
Build the soup. Add the potatoes, carrots, thyme, bay leaf, and smoked paprika. Pour in the broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a steady simmer. Cook uncovered until the potatoes and carrots are completely tender, about 20–25 minutes.
Finish and adjust. Remove the bay leaf. Stir in the sour cream and apple cider vinegar. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. The vinegar brightens the earthiness of the mushrooms — don’t skip it.
Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with fresh dill or parsley and an extra dollop of sour cream if you like. Good bread alongside is not optional.

Nutrition (per serving)

Russian Potato and Mushroom Leek Soup — The January Soup That Asks Nothing and Gives Everything