Potato-Fennel Soup with Browned Onions
Photograph by Alix Wall
This very simple and rich-tasting soup can be made with no dairy products.
Fennel is well-known as a seasoning, particularly in seed form. It is less well known as a vegetable: a light green bulb that is crunchy, juicy, and deeply, though subtly, flavored.
Preparation time: about 40 minute
Yield: about 6 servings
1 tablespoon butter or oil
4 cups thinly sliced onions
2 teaspoons salt
4 medium potatoes (average fist-sized), not necessarily peeled, and sliced into thin pieces 1 to 2 inches long
1 cup freshly minced fennel bulb
½ teaspoon caraway seeds
4 cups water
White pepper, to taste
Optional toppings: sour cream, thinned (by beating with a little whisk in a little bowl), the feathery tops of the fennel, well minced
1) Melt the butter (or heat the oil) in a kettle or Dutch oven. Add the onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the onions are very, very soft and lightly browned.
2) Add the potatoes, another ½ teaspoon of salt, the minced fennel bulb and the caraway seeds. Sauté over medium heat for another 5 minutes, then add the water. Bring to a boil, then partially cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender (5 to 10 minutes).
3) Taste to adjust salt; add white pepper. Serve hot, topped with a decorative swirl of thinned sour cream and/or minced feathery fennel tops.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.