Finnish Kesakeitto: Summer Vegetable Milk Soup with New Potatoes and Fresh Dill

Bring the water to a boil in a large pot with 1 teaspoon of the salt, then add the new potatoes and carrots and simmer for 8 minutes.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 pound small new potatoes, halved
• 3 young carrots, cut into coins
• 1 small cauliflower, broken into small florets
• 1 1/2 cups fresh shelled peas
• 8 ounces green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 4 cups water
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill, plus sprigs for serving
• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• Freshly ground white pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot with 1 teaspoon of the salt, then add the new potatoes and carrots and simmer for 8 minutes.
2. Add the cauliflower and green beans and cook for another 6 minutes, until everything is nearly tender but still holds its shape. The vegetables should never be cooked to softness.
3. Add the peas and cook for just 2 minutes more, until they turn vivid green.
4. Pour in the milk and bring the pot back to a bare simmer over low heat. Do not let it boil, or the milk will catch and scorch on the bottom.
5. In a small saucepan, melt the butter and whisk in the flour, cooking for 1 minute without letting it color.
6. Ladle about a cup of the hot soup liquid into the butter-flour mixture, whisking until completely smooth, then stir this back into the pot to thicken it lightly.
7. Stir in the cream, the remaining salt and a few grinds of white pepper, then fold in the chopped dill and remove from the heat.
8. Let the soup rest for 10 minutes so the dill perfumes the broth, then ladle into wide bowls and finish each with a dill sprig and a small knob of butter. Serve with dark rye bread.
9. Kesakeitto, literally summer soup, marks a specific moment on the Finnish calendar rather than a fixed recipe: it is made the week the first new potatoes and young vegetables come out of the ground, and Finns will tell you it simply cannot be made properly at any other time of year. The milk base rather than a meat stock is what defines it, a legacy of dairy-rich Nordic farm kitchens where broth was saved for winter and summer called for something lighter. The single rule every Finnish cook agrees on is restraint at the stove, since the whole point is to taste vegetables that were pulled from the soil that morning. Serve it barely warm on a hot day, which is closer to how it is actually eaten than steaming hot.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 310 kcal
• Protein: 12g
• Fat: 15g
• Carbohydrates: 34g
• Fiber: 7g
• Sugar: 12g
• Sodium: 720mg