Patriot Soup
A vibrant green Irish pub soup in the colors of the Irish flag. Green soup, a swirl of cream, a dusting of shredded carrot. From Eileen O'Driscoll's Soups, 2002.
🗂️ Sourced
From Eileen O'Driscoll, Soups, 2002. Used with respect and gratitude for a book worth buying twice.
Jennifer Ann Blair writes about food, wine, and the stories that live in recipe boxes.
The Irish flag is green, white, and orange. Green for the Catholics, orange for the Protestants, white for the peace between them. Eileen O’Driscoll understood exactly what she was doing with this soup. As she wrote: gather for St. Patrick’s brunch and serve this soup in the colors of the flag. Green soup, topped with a swirl of cream, dusted with finely shredded carrot. You’re not just making soup. You’re making the flag in a bowl.
I had patriot soup in Dublin. It was delicious and green. You could taste the green in it, like slurping a garden. That sounds like a complaint. It wasn’t. It was exactly what you want after a morning of walking in the rain, before heading back out into more of it.
Packed with vitamins and minerals, fat-free if you skip the butter and use vegetable stock. Said to cure a hangover. I have no evidence to dispute that claim.
Notes
Don’t discard the white part of the leek. Slice it and cook in olive oil or butter. Or add it to mashed potatoes.
Packed with vitamins and minerals. Fat-free if you omit the butter and use vegetable stock.
Said to cure a hangover.
Serve with homemade brown bread, scones, or potato bread
Sláinte
While You’re Here…
Jennifer Ann Blair writes about what’s worth remembering — a recipe, a person, a flag in a bowl.