This Luxembourgish Green Bean Soup is a perfect complement to the rest of your holiday table—if not its own course!
“I close my eyes and smell this soup my Boma (grandmother) used to make in her kitchen. It is a quintessential Luxembourg dish and one of my favorite comfort foods. Especially during cold winter months, it is a perfect accompaniment whilst reading a good book. As Lea Linster* once said: ‘This thriller reads like you slurp a good Bouneschlupp—preferably everything at once.’”
-Nicole Bintner-Bakshian, Ambassador of Luxembourg
*Luxembourgish chef and gold medal winner of the 1989 Bocuse d’Or (biennial world chef championship), the first and only woman (to date) to accomplish this.
🇱🇺 Luxembourg: Bouneschlupp—Luxembourgish Green Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds fresh green beans diced (about 5 cups)
- 1 onion diced
- 1 small leek sliced and rinsed
- 1/2 cup celeriac peeled and diced (or substitute celery)
- 2 cups diced yellow potatoes about 3
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 6-7 cups cold water as needed
- Salt and pepper
Garnishes (to taste)
- Sour cream
- Bacon cooked, then chopped or crumbled
- Cooked sliced German sausage (preferably spicy). Smoked sausage works well, too.
- And don’t forget a special ingredient: lots of love.
Instructions
- Wash and chop a mountain of veggies.
- Add the green beans, onion, leek, and celeriac to a pot of salted boiling water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.
- Add the diced potatoes and continue cooking until soft.
- Drain the veggies and save the broth in a separate bowl.
- Melt the butter in a large pot and whisk in the flour, until a smooth paste forms (a light roux), cook for about a minute. Do not brown.
- Whisk in the reserved vegetable broth, a little at a time, to avoid lumps. Start with 6 cups. You can add more at the end if you would like a thinner broth. Add the veggies back in, salt and pepper to taste, and your green bean soup is ready.
- Garnish with sour cream, bacon, and/or sliced sausage.