This is another old favorite cold-weather soup, from Nava Atlas’ Vegetariana’ cookbook, slightly amended, as following the recipe exactly results in a soup too thin and watery for our taste.

Peel and dice 6 medium to large potatoes

Finely chop 1 large onion

Mince 2 cloves garlic

Put all into a large pot with two bay leaves, 2 Tbsp butter or margarine, and just enough vegetable or chicken stock or water to barely cover. Simmer over moderate heat until potatoes are tender – about 20 minutes.

Add to the potato mixture – ¼ cup white wine

Meanwhile, combine;

1 ½ cups grated Edam or gouda cheese, tossed with

2 Tbsp flour

½ tsp dry mustard powder

3 Tbsp minced fresh dill or 1 Tbsp dried dill.

Add to the potato/onion mixture

1 cup milk

Stir in the grated cheese/flour mixture, a little at a time, until the cheese is melted and the soup thickened. The original recipe called for mashing a cup of the potatoes separately, but just stirring in the cheese/flour mixture mashes them sufficiently. Simmer over very low heat for another ten minutes. If too thick, can be thinned with a little more milk.