Whether you are lactose intolerant or vegan, it can often be difficult to replace milk or cream in a recipe. Consider chowder. Chowder is a soup based on vegetable broth or fish stock with milk or cream, as is the case with clam chowder, or a simpler broth of vegetables simmered in hot milk or cream, as for a corn chowder. Is it even possible to make a chowder without any dairy products? Of course it is!
So how do we create a creamy texture without cream, while avoiding the pitfalls of a chalky, plastery taste or gluey texture? Please don’t suggest a béchamel made from oil and flour – I won’t do it!
No, the secret trick is to make a creamy, smooth and tasty broth using a combination of white vegetables.
White vegetables? Celeriac, kohlrabi, Japanese turnip or white turnip, leek, or a mixture of all these vegetables.
This idea can also be useful if you want to replace any white sauce of butter, milk and flour. A soup of white vegetables with plenty of added garlic served on pasta, for example, makes for a delicious meal with a convincing taste of fettucine alfredo.
Chowder of white beans and organic vegetables
(makes about 8 portions of 250 ml)
Part I – White vegetable soup as a creamy base
INGREDIENTS (Choose organic and local seasonal ingredients if possible)
- Olive oil
- 3 large leeks or onions, chopped
- 3 kohlrabi, cut in pieces
- 3 white turnips or Japanese turnips, cut in pieces
- 2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 4-6 cups of homemade or commercial vegetable bouillon or water (enough to cover the vegetables)
- Salt and pepper
- 2-3 sprigs of dill
METHOD
- Sauté leek or onion in oil for 5 minutes over medium heat.
- Add white vegetables and sauté 10 minutes more to intensify the flavour. Add salt.
- Add the garlic and broth.
- Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer gently until the vegetables are cooked through and tender.
- Blend until creamy.
- Add the finely chopped fresh dill to steep and flavour the soup base.
- Set aside.
Part II – Vegetable soup to add to the cream of white vegetables
INGREDIENTS (Choose organic and local seasonal ingredients if possible)
- Olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 medium-sized potatoes, cut into small cubes
- 2 small white turnips, cut into small cubes
- 4 carrots, quartered and sliced
- 2 cups of green and yellow beans, cut into 4 pieces
- 2 small zucchini cut into half-circles
- 2 cups of corn
- Vegetable broth (enough to cover the vegetables)
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 cups of cooked white beans
- Fresh dill to taste
METHOD
- Sauté the onion in oil for 5 minutes.
- Add salt.
- Add the other vegetables according to their cooking times (roots and potatoes first, others later).
- Cover with vegetable broth.
- Reduce heat to simmer gently until the vegetables are cooked. You want them to retain some texture.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the white beans.
- Add dill to taste.
PART III – assembling the chowder
- The idea of this soup is to cook vegetables in a broth as for vegetable soup, then mix them into the white vegetable cream instead of making a béchamel or a milk-based soup.
- Add the cooked vegetables into the white soup first, then add broth gradually (if necessary) until it has the consistency of a chowder. Avoid thinning out the cream base too much – the main point of this recipe is the creamy texture of the result.
*You can also use only leeks or only cauliflower and potato to keep costs down and shopping simple.
*Adding arame seaweed gives a tang of the sea to this soup, interesting for a vegan recipe and turning it into a sea chowder…
Health and pleasure to all!