Traditional Finnish summer soup

The first pot of summer soup of the summer! 

This soup with gentle summery flavours has been a favourite of mine ever since I was a kid. The taste of fresh summer vegetables in a sweet, milky broth... Mmm! In Swedish the name is less flattering than in Finnish: "snålsoppa" translates to "stingy soup" because it's cheap to make while the name "kesäkeitto" means "summer soup".

We bought our ingredients from the local farmer's market so it tasted extra good.

We always make a huge pot so there's some left over for the next day – and for me to secretly eat before I go to bed! Today we ate all our meals outdoors and dinner was no exception: it was served on the balcony in a very posh style with napkins and all.

Summer soup 

(serves four)
1 l water + vegetable stock cube
1 onion, chopped
6 skinny, fresh carrots, sliced
5 medium potatoes, cubed
1/2 cauliflower head
100 ml chopped green beans or frozen peas
500 ml oat milk or full fat milk
Salt to taste
Ground white pepper

Optional garnish:
Scallions, dill, parsley, spinach or other yummy greens
A drizzle of olive oil or a knob of butter

Boil the water with a vegetable stock cube, toss in onion and carrot coins and the potato cubes. Let them boil for about 5-10 minutes, until the veggies are half-done. Add the cauliflower florets and the green beans, then pour in milk. Bring the soup to a boil and let it simmer for another ten minutes. If you are using frozen peas, you can toss them in last with the herbs so they don't over cook.

Add salt (generously) and white pepper to taste, garnish with herbs.

My friend suggested adding blue cheese ,which I'm sure would taste great but sort of spoils how healthy the soup is!