Creamy Kohlrabi Bread Soup

I had this tasty soup starter for one of our meals while on vacation in Switzerland this summer.  I talked with the waitress and chef and they told me steps and ingredients and I replicated it as best I could.  This soup is a great way to use your garden harvest or farmer market buys.  

I used Russets in this soup instead of my usual Yukon gold potatoes as they break down easier and make the soup even creamier.  The bread I used was a 2 day old stale light rye bread.  The chef added the bread for two reasons, to use up the bread and to thicken the soup.  No waste here!

This is the first time I tried kohlrabi.  I tried a bite of it raw and a bite of it cooked.  It is no surprise that it has a cabbage flavor both ways being that is from the cabbage family.  The name comes from the German Kohl ("cabbage") plus Rabi (Swiss German variant of "turnip") Kohlrabi is a very commonly eaten vegetable in German speaking countries. Make sure you should  peel off the tough outermost layer of the bulb with a vegetable peeler before cutting in half to get the core out.

Creamy Kohlrabi Bread Soup

2 pounds kohlrabi, peeled cored and chopped

1 pounds Russet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 small carrots, chopped

6-8 cups chicken broth

2-3 slices stale rye bread

salt and pepper to taste

diced chives

Add 6 cups broth and vegetables* to a large pot.  

Bring to boil, simmer until soft.

A blender is best for the creamiest texture but you can use an immersion blender too. 

Add stale bread and blend until smooth.  f you use a blender you may need to do two batches.  It's OK if you throw the bread in one batch and not the other.  When you return the smooth soup to your pan you can mix them.  Depending on how much your potatoes have thickened your soup you may need to add more broth depending on how thick your soup is. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Serve with a nice slice of bread and sprinkle chives on top.

*You may wonder where are the carrots.  I did not add them as they were in my notes then crossed out. After I blended the soup I realized by the color and taste that they were definitely missing.  I had some cooked carrots from the broth I made so I rinsed them off a bit and added them.