Farmer’s Soup

Almost anything can go into a farmer’s soup. The only caveat — they must all be fresh. Farmer’s soup derives its name from the practice of cooking soup with ingredients fresh from the farmer’s market. Or, if you prefer an even fresher version — with ingredients fresh from the farmer’s garden.

Either way, there is no room for canned vegetables in farmer’s soup. Use the freshest vegetables you have and in whatever combination you fancy.

The base for my farmer’s soup were leeks and spicy sausages.

The sausage casings were discarded; only the sausage meat was used.

For more on leeks, see which portion of the stalks you want to include in your soup.

The broth was made with ham bones. Mine was still frozen so I just dumped it in and let it thaw and melt in the pot.

The vegetables consisted of carrots, potatoes, corn, tomatoes and cauliflower.

Superb. Speedy loved it. The soup was so chunky and filling that it was all we had for lunch. With buttered toast on the side, of course.

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Farmer's Soup

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 6

Author Connie Veneracion

Ingredients

• 3 spicy sausages (Polish, Hungarian and Italian all work well; native spicy, garlicky longganisa will work well too)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 stalks leek sliced
• 6 cups bone broth preferably homemade
• 1 large carrot peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 2 large potatoes peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 2 tomatoes chopped
• 1 head cauliflower cored and cut into very small florets
• corn kernels from two sweet yellow corn cobs
• salt to taste
• pepper
• chopped parsley for garnish

Instructions

1. First, press the sausage meat from the casings. Discard the casings.
2. Heat the butter in a thick-bottomed pot. Add the sausage meat and cook over medium-low heat until lightly browned.
3. Add the leeks. Stir. Set the heat to low and cover the pot. Cook gently for about five minutes.
4. Pour in the broth.
5. Once the broth boils, it’s all just a matter of adding the vegetables. Add the one the takes longest to cook. With my combination of vegetables, the carrot and tomatoes went in first (I wanted the tomatoes to soften well). After five minutes, the potatoes and corn kernels. After another five minutes, the cauliflower.
6. Once all the vegetables are in the pot, season with salt and pepper, simmer for another ten minutes and the farmer's soup is done.
7. Stir in the parsley just before serving. And don’t forget the bread. Country-style bread — sliced and grilled — is highly recommended.