Leek, Potato, and Fennel Soup
A pureed vegetable soup rebuilt from dried parts, finished with lemon in the mug.
- calories
- 430
- weight
- 3.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 134
- protein
- 8 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 12 min
- water
- 450 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 1/2 cup | stands in for the yukon golds |
|---|---|---|
| Dried leek slices | 1/4 cup | dehydrated at home or bought as soup vegetables |
| Dried fennel bulb | 2 tbsp | slice thin and dry it; it rehydrates slowly otherwise |
| Dried sweet onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Vegetable bouillon | 1 cube or 1 tsp powder | |
| Fennel seed | 1/4 tsp | crushed, to back up the dried bulb |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried lemon peel | 1/4 tsp | |
| Citric acid or a lemon juice packet | 1/8 tsp | the acid at the end is the whole point |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste |
Method
- Bring 450 ml of water to a boil with the leek, fennel, onion, garlic powder, fennel seed, and bouillon in it.
- Simmer 8 minutes. The fennel is the slow one, so taste a piece before you move on.
- Pull it off the heat and stir in the potato flakes a bit at a time until it thickens.
- Add the olive oil, lemon peel, and citric acid. Stir, then salt and pepper it.
- Let it sit two minutes. It keeps thickening as it cools.
The original is a blended soup: sweat the alliums, simmer potato and fennel in stock, puree it smooth. You cannot blend anything on trail, so the potato does that job as flakes. They dissolve into the broth and give you the plush texture the blender was there to produce.
The rest is substitution. Dried leek, fennel, and onion rehydrate in the same simmer that cooks the broth, and olive oil replaces the butter that was slathered on bread alongside. The acid at the end is not optional. Without it this reads as bland starch; with it, the onion and fennel flavors pull into focus.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one bag, bouillon and all. Oil rides in a dropper bottle, citric acid in a tiny vial so you can add it a pinch at a time.
Variations
- A spoon of powdered coconut milk gets you closer to the original texture without a cooler.
- Stir in dried mashed white beans for another 10 g of protein.
- Crumble hard cheese in at camp if you are not keeping it dairy-free.
https://daraeats.com/leek-potato-and-fennel-soup