Vegan Potato Soup — The Bowl That Brought My Daughters Home

Anna came. She drove from Minneapolis on Saturday with Sophie — a day trip, six hours round-trip, four hours in Duluth. The first visit since March. Five months. The longest I've gone without seeing my oldest daughter since she was born. She walked in the door and I hugged her and the hug lasted — a long time. Longer than Johanssons hug. Longer than the greeting requires. The hug was five months of not touching, five months of phone calls and screen, five months of the lockdown's particular cruelty to a family that already lost its center. Sophie walked in behind Anna and she looked — different. Older. Not older in years (she's twenty-two) but older in the way that loss ages you. She's been working as an RN at Hennepin County Medical Center since June, on the COVID ward, and the work has carved something into her face that wasn't there before. The same thing that was carved into my face in my first year of nursing. The mark of proximity to dying. She hugged me and said, "I missed you, Grandma." I said, "I missed you, Sophie. How's the ward?" She said, "Hard. Scary. Important." Three words. The same three words I would have used at twenty-two. The same three words that describe nursing in any era, in any ward, in any pandemic. I cooked. Of course I cooked. I made the full spread: meatballs (the real recipe), wild rice soup, garden salad, limpa bread, blueberry pie from last week's bake. The table was set for three — the first time in months that the table has held more than one eater and one ghost. Anna and Sophie ate like people who have been missing home cooking — quickly, thoroughly, with the specific gratitude of daughters who have returned to the kitchen they grew up eating in. Sophie had three helpings of meatballs. Anna had two bowls of soup. They both had pie. After lunch, Sophie sat at Paul's place. She didn't mean to — she just sat there, and then she realized, and she started to get up. I said, "Stay. He'd want you there." She stayed. She ate her pie at Paul's place and the place was occupied and the occupying was right. They left at four. The house went quiet again. The table had three dirty plates instead of one. I washed them slowly, one by one, enjoying the evidence of company — the crumbs, the smears, the residue of a meal shared. Three plates. The most beautiful dishes I've washed in months.

Anna had two full bowls of this soup before she even reached for the bread, and I took that as the highest compliment a mother-in-law of a kitchen can receive. When I know someone is coming home after a long time away — really coming home, not just stopping in — I always make something that fills a bowl, because a bowl is something you have to hold with both hands, and holding something warm with both hands is its own kind of comfort. This soup is the one I come back to when the table needs to feel like it used to feel. It’s simple, it’s generous, and it gives back more than you put in.

Vegan Potato Soup

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup plain unsweetened oat milk (or other plant-based milk)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons fresh chives or parsley, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

1. Sauté the aromatics. Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the diced onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5–6 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and carrots and cook another 2 minutes until fragrant.
2. Add potatoes and broth. Add the cubed potatoes, vegetable broth, thyme, smoked paprika, and onion powder. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 20–25 minutes until potatoes are completely tender when pierced with a fork.
3. Blend partially. Use an immersion blender to blend about half the soup directly in the pot, leaving plenty of potato chunks for texture. Alternatively, transfer 2–3 cups of soup to a blender, blend until smooth, and stir back in.
4. Finish with milk and nutritional yeast. Stir in the oat milk and nutritional yeast. Return the pot to low heat and warm through for 3–4 minutes. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
5. Serve. Ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh chives or parsley. Serve immediately alongside crusty bread.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 218 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 6g | Carbs: 37g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 480mg