We finished digging potatoes out of our garden last week and our parsley is a mound of green, reveling in the cool and sunny weather. The two suggested to me a soup I had made a long time ago and thought would taste good. It did.

As always, I made a double batch so that I could put some in the freezer for a fast supper or lunch sometime in the weeks ahead. I find that it does not take appreciably more time to cook twice as much, so I figure I am saving a little on energy, too. If you are good at handling a microwave, you might find a way to do it in that and save even more energy. Of course, if it were chillier and we had a wood fire going, I would make soup on that stove.

We grow three or four types of potato, including one called Carola, a nice all-purpose potato, good for this kind of soup, not too mealy or waxy. If you select a good all-purpose Maine potato for this recipe, you’ll be fine. I wouldn’t use reds. My favorite parsley is the flat-leaf Italian style. I think it has more flavor. You will need a big bunch.

This recipe is good just as it stands but you can also consider it a soup base for lots of variations. You can make it into a vegetarian soup by using water or vegetable broth then adding broccoli, cauliflower, or whirling up some cooked chard or spinach in the blender to add. You can use a meat broth or add meat to the soup. A nice smoky or a very spicy sausage would be terrific in it. Ham would be a good addition; so would cheddar cheese. Sauteed leeks in either the vegetarian or meat version are good. Feel free to cut loose with this. Scour your fridge for flavorful bits and pieces to add.

I used chicken broth as the recipe suggested but instead of yogurt, I used a cup of cottage cheese that I was afraid would go by, and a dollop of sour cream. Ricotta would work as well and so would evaporated milk, if that is what you have. You can actually leave out the milk products altogether and still have a good soup.

If you like a creamy soup, you will want to put the potato mix in a blender and puree it. (You know that if you put it in hot, it will burst up violently, so be sure to let it cool a bit.) Around our house, we like things a little lumpy so I just used a masher on it, and blended a couple cups only.

Parsley Potato Soup

Makes a half-gallon of soup

4 medium potatoes diced

1 medium onion diced

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon curry powder (optional)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 1/4 cups water

2 packed cups parsley, picked off the stems

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup yogurt, milk, cream or sour cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook everything together except the parsley and the broth until the potatoes are very tender. Mash it well or let cool and put it into a blender or food processor to puree into a creamy soup. Then put the parsley and broth into a blender and process till you have a green sauce. Add that to the potato mixture, add the yogurt, milk or cream, reheat and taste, then adjust seasonings.