Finnish Summer Soup – Kesäkeitto

A taste of summer sunshine, the Finnish classic recipe for "summer soup", in Finnish that's kesäkeitto (kesä meaning summer and keitto meaning soup). Traditionally, Finnish Summer Soup's milky broth is packed with the season's first tiny garden-fresh vegetables: sumptous, that tradition. Me, I make Finnish Summer Soup all summer long with all kinds of vegetables: we lap it up, one potful after another.

Real Food, Fresh & Seasonal, Finland's Summer Classic. Budget-Friendly. Great for Meal Prep. Weight Watchers Friendly. Low Carb. Vegetarian. Decidedly Delicious. What're you waiting for?!

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BEST RECIPES!

• Finnish Summer Soup Totally Made the List!
• Best Recipes of 2008

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A Transformational Year

After graduating from high school, I spent a year as a Rotary International exchange student.

Rotary goes through a sorority rush-style process, matching students and countries.

I was dead-set on my first choices for host countries, South Africa and Norway.

My third choice, Finland, was added to the list only because Rotary insisted on three countries and my dad, like many in the Greatest Generation, held Finns in high regard because Finland remains the only country to repay its war debt.

So when I was matched to Finland, I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. "I'll never learn the language. It's too hard!" And I cried some more.

As life goes, it was a perfect match – and a huge life lesson.

I did learn to speak the notoriously difficult Finnish.

Finland not only fit but also came to define my northern soul.

But the Food, Alanna, Get to the Food!

This soup is a classic Finnish classic recipe. It is called "summer soup" (kesä = summer, soup = keitto, pronounced [KEH-sa-KAY-toe], pronouncing the sa with a hard a, like sad without the d) because it uses the very first baby vegetables from the garden, the smallest, the newest, the freshest.

It uses so few ingredients, it's hard to believe that the result can be anything special.

But trust me, this soup celebrates summer – it's glorious.

Wendy from the Scottish food blog A Wee Bit of Cooking also lived in Finland as an exchange student and calls kesäkeitto "sunshine in a bowl". Deinin, a Finnish food blogger who is much missed, says that kesäkeitto is controversial!

Be sure to read the comments from the wonderful Finnish dog blog Life of Jajo in the comments below for more on the controversy!

To my taste, why, there's no understanding. I a-d-o-r-e this summer soup!

A Summer Tradition in Finland

Finnish Summer Soup is a perfect dish for Midsummer, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and one that the Finns and other Nordic souls celebrate with great abandon. But really, it's all about the vegetables and thus is a soup that all of us, no matter where we live, can enjoy, again and again, all summer long.

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FINNISH SUMMER SOUP – KESÄKEITTO

Hands-on time: 50 minutes
Time-to-table: 50 minutes
Makes 8 cups

The vegetables don't actually cook in the milky broth, they're cooked separately. If it's been awhile, I always miss that detail!

MILK BROTH
• 1 tablespoon sugar (don't skip)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 4 cups skim milk or 2% milk or whole milk

TINY VEGETABLES
• Water to cover
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt (or salt to taste)
• 8 cups of tiny, fresh vegetables – I especially like broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, new potatoes, zucchini, carrot, onion, asparagus tips, kohlrabi and onion but also think turnips, fennel, radishes, okra, corn and especially peas

TO FINISH
• Cream to taste – about 1 cup (omit if using whole milk)
• Fresh dill, chopped (don't skip)

MILK BROTH Stir together the sugar, flour and salt in a pot large enough to eventually hold the soup. Slowly stir in the milk, a tablespoon at a time at first, until the mixture is smooth and liquid, then pour in the remaining milk. Gently heat heat the milk on medium heat, stirring it occasionally to distribute the heat, adjusting the heat up or down to keep things moving without allowing the milk to boil.

TINY VEGETABLES In a separate large pot, bring the water and salt to a boil.

Prep all the vegetables, cutting them into small pieces of roughly equivalent size but varying each vegetable's distinctive shape and color. Start with the vegetables that will take longer to cook, including ones like potatoes, carrot and kohlrabi, keep these separate. Finish with the more tender vegetables that will cook more quickly, including ones like zucchini, cauliflower florets and asparagus tips. It helps to have all the vegetables prepped before beginning to cook them.

Once the water boils, drop the longer-cook vegetables into the pot; let the water come back to a boil, then lower the temperature to let them slowly simmer, just until nearly done. Stir in the quicker-cook vegetables and cook until just done.

COMBINE Drain the hot vegetables, discarding the cooking water. Gently stir the vegetables into the first pot of hot milk. Bring the milk back up to temperature – but again, do not boil – for a minute or two.

Stir in cream to taste and warm through. Taste and adjust the salt to taste: be generous!

TO SERVE To serve, scoop a few vegetables into bowls, then top with broth and a sprinkling of fresh dill. Savor slowly, tasting that summer sunshine.

ALANNA's TIPS Recipes for kesäkeitto often call for cream and if ever a soup deserves the indulgence of cream, this is it. But it occurred to me that if one "starts" with skim milk, then "enriches" with cream stirred in, that we'll use "just enough" cream. That said, use the milk you have on hand. I often use whole milk and then skip the cream entirely. Or I use 2% milk and if there's no cream, I'll enrich each bowl with a small pat of butter that melts right there on top. I often play fast 'n' loose with the milky liquid. One potful was especially good, a 1:2 mix of whole milk and whey leftover from making another summer staple, Homemade Ricotta. Be sure to include some onion, even if it's a small amount of chopped onion. Onion really needs cooking, make it one of the longer-cook vegetables. In winter, this is actually a decent soup made with frozen vegetables, the bags of mixed vegetables where the bits of carrot and so on are all small in size. Believe it or not, this soup is actually good cold, too! Like many soups, FINNISH SUMMER SOUP's flavors develop if made one day and then served the next. But don't hesitate to serve it the same day. Since kesäkeitto uses a small volume of so many vegetables, you may end up with lots of leftover vegetables. Be sure to check out either Favorite Ingredients or A Veggie Venture's A-Z of Vegetables for ideas on how to best use them. Want to add some protein? Stir in some cooked smoked chicken.

NUTRITION INFORMATION
With 4 cups skim milk + 1 cup heavy cream, how I made Finnish Summer Soup for years and years, Per Cup, makes 9 cups, Per Cup: 164 Calories; 10g Tot Fat; 6g Sat Fat; 38mg Cholesterol; 460mg Sodium; 14g Carb; 2g Fiber; 9g Sugar; 6g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 4 & PointsPlus 4 & SmartPoints 7 & Freestyle 6 & myWW green 6 & blue 6 & purple 6 CALORIE COUNTERS 100-calorie serving = 1/2 cup (4g protein).

With 4 cups whole milk + no heavy cream, how I make Finnish Summer Soup now, Per Cup: 112 Calories; 4g Tot Fat; 4g Sat Fat; 12mg Cholesterol; 353mg Sodium; 14g Carb; 2g Fiber; 10g Sugar; 6g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 2 & PointsPlus 3 & SmartPoints 5 & Freestyle 4 & myWW green 4 & blue 4 & purple 4 CALORIE COUNTERS 100-calorie serving = scant 1 cup (5g protein).

WOW. Sixteen years of nutrition calculations and Weight Watchers point calculations and I still totally missed that whole milk has so many fewer calories than a 5:1 blend of skim milk:heavy cream. My bad. But so good to know! Onward!

Adapted from The Finnish Cookbook (affiliate link) by Beatrice Ojakangas. That's the original edition, the cookbook my Finnish mother gifted to my own mother the year I was an exchange student in Finland. It is a faithful representation of authentic Finnish cuisine, adapted for American ingredients and measurements. There's also a newer edition of The Finnish Cookbook (affiliate link). For all who'd like to know more about Finnish cooking, start with this lovely cookbook.

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More Summer Recipes from Finland

(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)

~ more Finnish recipes ~
Celebrate the Longest Day of the Year!
~ Menu for a Midsummer Feast ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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