Got Lovage?

I'm bringing lovage back. What the heck is lovage? The short answer is, it is an Old English sweet herb, once used widely, but now quite out of fashion. You can find out more about it here. I have a robust lovage plant in my garden and I'm bound and determined to use it. That's kind of my thing. If I'm going to take care of a plant or animal, it's gonna give me something, in return. Usually food. Or undying devotion. I'm thinking lovage is only good for the former. Meet my happy little lovage plant.


You may find yourself asking, "What does lovage taste like"? Well, it has a very strong celery type flavor. Which means you can use it in many recipes where you would normally use celery. Like stuffing. Or I like to use it in egg salad. I bet it would be nice in potato salad, as well. I'll have to give that a try very soon. But today I was in the mood for some potato lovage soup. Not that I'd ever had any before. But I had been meaning to try it. Being of Irish decent, I am quite fond of potatoes. And you can't get much easier than potato soup. This is my own recipe. I started with this one, but decided I wanted to do things a bit differently. I wanted less liquid, less onion, some garlic (I adore garlic) and I wanted the lovage added much sooner in the process. So here is the Roxi version. It was quite good:

POTATO & LOVAGE SOUP
1 1/2 TBS. olive oil
4 potatoes, peeled and diced
3 green onions, chopped (or 1/4 yellow onion, minced)
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced
2 C. water
1/3 C. chopped lovage (leaves and small stems)
1 C. milk
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Heat the oil in a medium sized sauce pan. Add the potatoes, onion and garlic, and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are browned and the onions and garlic are cooked. Add the water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, stir in the lovage and simmer until the potatoes are done. Use a masher or ricer and mash the potatoes well. I don't use a food processor because I like my soup chunky. And I don't want to have to cool it, either. You can use the masher right in the pan on the stove. Once the potatoes are mashed, stir in the milk and seasonings. Reheat if needed and serve.


I hope you enjoy lovage as much as I do. It's very easy to grow and is a perennial so once you have it, you always have it. I love plants that cooperate.