If you do an internet search on “radish greens soup,” you’ll get a few relevant hits with recipes for the soup. If you do an internet search on “soupe aux fanes de radis,” you will get dozens of relevant hits with recipes. But, they’ll all be written in French! Root to leaf is just part of their culture. The garden and market both provide so much bounty. Don’t ignore the “lessor” parts of the plant.
This recipe falls directly into the family of Cream of Anything Soup. Traditionally, potatoes are included with the radish greens, to thicken the body of the soup. It’s delicious that way, but you can get even more radish flavor by going the single dish root to leaf route and use the radishes and their greens in the soup. Cooking radishes, whether roasting, sautéing, or poaching in a soup, brings out the sweetness of the radish and tames their spicy bite. One thing to note, if you go for radishes over potatoes to make the soup, unless you take the time to peel all of those little radishes, the final color of the soup may surprise you. When made with (peeled) potatoes, the soup has a nice delicate green hue. See the photo at the top of this article. When made with (unpeeled) radishes, you are mixing red with green (which itself is a mixture of blue and yellow). As any kid who has mixed paints in elementary school art class knows, when you mix red and blue and yellow together, you get brown.
See the adjacent photo, Cream of Radish and Greens Soup. And no matter what you try to mix in after that, it stays brown. If you want to impress the eyes, go with potatoes. If you want to impress the tastebuds go with the radish roots. If you want to impress both, take the time to peel the radish roots.
I love to garnish this soup with some super thin slices of raw radish root. It’s visually appealing and makes the soup instantly identifiable by sight. It also tastes great and provides a little crunch. Several herbs are good options, including parsley, chives, garlic chives or cilantro. Croutons, a drizzle of olive oil, or a dab of crème fraise are all good options. And, yes, bacon makes everything taste better.
Cream of Radish Greens Soup
Equipment
- Stock Pot
- Immersion Blender
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, 6-8 oz diced
- 2-3 cloves garlic minced
- leaves and stems from two bunches of radishes approximately 8 oz by weight
- 2 medium potatoes or 2 bunches radish roots - about 16 oz by weight see notes
- 3-4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- 2 oz heavy cream optional
- salt, pepper, to taste
- optional garnishes see notes
Instructions
- Thourougly rince any grit from the radish leaves. The easiest way to do this is with a salad spinner. Place the leaves in the spinner basket inside the spinner bowl and fill with water. Swirl the leaves in the water and pull the basket from the water. Check for any grit in the bottom of the bowl. Dump the water and repeat until no grit appears at the bottom of the bowl.
- If using potatoes, peel them and cut the flesh into 1 inch pieces. If using radishes, optionally peel them, and if necessary cut them into 1 inch pieces.
- Sauté the onions in olive oil with ½ tsp of salt in the soup pot. Use enough olive oil to make the onions glisten, but not enough to pool in the bottom of the pan. You just want to sweat the onions, with no browning. When they are soft and translucent, stir in the garlic and sauté another minute or two.
- Add the radish leaves and either potatoes or radish roots to the pot and add enough stock to just reach the top of the other ingredients. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer.
- After about 10 minutes, check on the status of the pot. If there appears to be excess liquid, let the simmering continue without the cover. If most of the ingredients are above the stock line, add more stock. Once the liquid level looks right, cover and continue simmering.
- Continue to check every 10 minutes, adjusting the liquid levels. When the potatoes or radish roots are soft, expect about 30 minutes into the simmering, everything is fully cooked.
- Once the ingredients are fully cooked, use an immersion blender to puree everything into a smooth soup. Final adjustments are made at this time. If the soup seems too thick, add stock or water. Taste for seasoning and creaminess. For a richer mouthfeel, add cream at this point. Add salt and pepper and other seasonings to taste.
