Bramboračka

Instructions

• 1
  Pour cold water over the mushrooms and let them stand on the kitchen counter for at least an hour. If you soak them in water a day in advance and put them in the fridge, even better.
• 2
  Peel the onion, scrape the vegetables and potatoes. Finely chop the onion, cut the root vegetables and potatoes into centimeter cubes. Remove the soaked mushrooms from the water and chop them coarsely. Carefully pour the mushroom water into a measuring cup, avoiding any impurities at the bottom, and top it up with cold water to 1 liter.
• 3
  Melt half of the butter in a pot and add the root vegetables and caraway seeds. Season with a generous pinch of salt and sauté over medium heat for at least 5 minutes. The vegetables shouldn't brown completely, but a slight change in color should occur.
• 4
  Add the onion to the sautéed vegetables and continue for 1-2 minutes until it softens and loses its pungency. Finally, add a quarter of the potatoes. Continue stirring gently for another minute or two until the soup base starts to look like it's about to burn (a brownish-golden coating at the bottom of the pot is not a defect).
• 5
  Pour the prepared liter of water with the mushroom water over the soup base. Add the mushrooms, the remaining potatoes, and the rest of the salt, and bring to a very gentle boil.
• 6
  Before that happens, you'll have time to prepare a roux in a separate saucepan. Melt the remaining butter, and once it foams, add the flour. Stir with a whisk to prevent anything from sticking, and cook a light brown roux – it will take several minutes for the flour to reluctantly change color. Here too, it's ideal not to rush and to stay in the medium heat range of the hob.
• 7
  Once the soup starts to boil, gradually pour in the roux while stirring the soup. Let the thickened soup simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes and vegetables soften and the roux is cooked through. Occasionally stir everything from the bottom, as thickened dishes tend to stick and burn.
• 8
  In the last minute of cooking the soup, add marjoram rubbed in your palms and crushed or pressed garlic. Season the soup with salt again, as potatoes absorb a lot of it during cooking, sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley, and serve.