Canadian Hodge Podge (soup) Simple soup from common garden vegetables

[rob86 2]

During the summer in Eastern Canada (and possibly elsewhere, but doubtful since there aren't too many recipes on google) a common soup is eaten. This soup has the humble but slightly odd name of Hodge Podge. Hodge Podge according to a dictionary stands for a motley assortment of things, and this is exactly what Hodge Podge is. It came about as a use for the abundance of fresh vegetables available to us here during the summer.

 

The soup is very simple, and requires very little detailed instruction. You need only a few ingredients and it's very flexible.

 

It's commonly made with

 

Potatoes

Green/Yellow String Beans

Peas

Milk

Flour

Spices (Salt/Pepper)

Butter

You could probably throw in any vegetable you want. The thing is, it's almost a complete necessity that the vegetables are right out of the garden. New potatoes before the skins become overly developed, string beans fresh off the plant, and peas the same.

 

The recipe is simple, but that is because all of the flavour is in the fresh vegetables. That's what you aim for with the soup. You don't want to over power it. It will not taste the same with frozen vegetables. It will taste okay, naturally, with butter and milk, but I wouldn't call it true Hodge Podge.

 

You simply prepare the vegetables by boiling them together in a pot of water, you drain the water, you add the butter, milk, salt and pepper, you slowly reheat so the milk is hot without boiling, and you add some flour, stirring quickly to thicken it to your taste. Don't worry ,the flour shouldn't lump up in milk as it does in some water based dishes. It's an absolutely divine treat if you're lucky enough to have a garden available.

 

Yum!