18 May 2010

Delicate Radish Leaf Soup


Je m'excuse d'avance auprès de mes lecteurs français : pour l'instant je n'ai pas le temps de traduire mes entrées en français. J'ai décidé de continuer à poster mais uniquement en anglais. J'espère reprendre le format bilingue à la rentrée (au plus tard). D'ici là, vous pouvez en profiter pour pratiquer votre anglais ! Et vous pouvez bien sûr continuer à poster des commentaires ou des questions en français.

My mom and sister tell a funny story about trying to order a dish with snow peas in a Chinese restaurant. The waitress kept saying "peas leaves, peas leaves" and they finally decided that must be how she called them. It turns out she brought them a dish of actual sautéd peas leaves, not at all what they expected. They tried to send it back, but she kept insisting they would like it. So they gave it a try, to the apparent delight of their taste buds!

I had a bit of the same sceptical reaction when a friend of mine excitedly gave me his recipe for radish leaf soup. Really? Radish leaves? Those tiny, prickly, unappetizing things? He insisted I should try it and put the recipe on my blog. It certainly makes me the conservationist in me happy not to throw out the leaves of the organic radishes I've been getting weeks in a row in my CSA, so I gave it a try.

Well it turns out that radish leaves have a very nice, rather delicate flavor and make a perfect spring soup for an appetizer or light meal. I think this would be particularly nice with some garlic bread or homemade croutons. Hmmm...


2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
leaves from 1 bunch of radishes
1 pinch cumin
1 pinch sage
4 cups vegetable/chicken stock
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan. Cook the onion a few minutes until translucent. Wash the radish leaves and add to the pot. Cook 2-3 minutes until leaves are wilted. Add the cumin and sage and stir. Add the stock. Bring to a boil and add the potatoes. Simmer about 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Blend with an immersion blender or in a mixer. Serve hot.

14 comments:

Julia said...

I should try this! I have arugula planted right next to the radishes and accidentally ate a radish leaf. I wasn't crazy about it, but perhaps it will be better in the soup!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Raddish leaves have such and delicate and refined flavor! Your soup must taste wonderful!

Cheers,

Rosa

Cicero Sings said...

Who would have thought?!

Nice to see a post from you ... you must be busy indeed. I've not been blogging so much myself ... other things taking my time!

Tony said...

"How she called them" is such a French way of saying that sentence! I think you're finally turning French :P

And now that I have seen this recipe I'm totally trying it once our CSA starts up.

Anonymous said...

It feels good to use the whole vegetable, doesn't it? I made a radish leaf pesto with some of my panier radishes, and it was tasty! Never thought to put them in soup, though. (I might be a little tired of soup and soup weather...)

Hopie said...

Julie - I don't think I'd eat them raw either! They're prickly!

Rosa - They do taste quite refined. I was surprised.

Cicero - I can understand. Blogging is lots of fun, but one has to do some living too. At least to have something to blog about ;-)

Tony - Arg, I am becoming French. You're so right. When does your CSA start again?

Camille - Oooh, radish leaf pesto! Can I have the recipe for that? I suppose I could invent one - I imagine that's what you did. I'm so with you on soups, even if this one was yummy.

Ivy said...

It's so hot here that we'll have to wait for next year to eat a soup again. Funny story. I would have probably left the restaurant as I have never heard of p(l)eas(e) leave before :)

Unknown said...

This looks really good, Hope!
I think it would be a nice, new vegan dish for dinner. yum.

Unknown said...

Goog idea the cumin, i will try... I'm very proud you tryed my recipe and make a post on your blog. Now I'm famous !!!

Julie said...

Hi, Hope! I've been buying radishes the past few weeks at the farmer's market. I always hate throwing away the tops of things like radishes and beets. I will have to make up some other soup to get my husband to try this but I can't wait to try it!

Hopie said...

Ivy - Please leave hahaha - oh dear - good thing they stuck around ;-)

Kristen - Indeed it is. Vegan dishes on my blog are rare (I'm such a fan of cheese!) but this one is perfect the way it is.

Lavignotte - Thank you for making me try this yummy recipe!

Julie - I know how you feel about throwing the tops of stuff away. Maybe your husband would be more receptive to a radish leaf pesto that you could on pasta or something?

PG said...

Never would have thought to do anything with the leaves. Interesting. It looks good.

Katharine said...

It was in Chinatown in San Francisco in June, just after Adam and Niki's wedding. The sautéed peas leaves looked like spinach which we both dislike. They were scrumptious and the only dish we finished, which the waitress/hostess pointedly noted after the meal :)

Do you have any brilliant suggestions for dandelion greens? I have some about to start rotting in my veg drawer...

Nicola said...

Wow! And they look so unappetising! This looks so good! I have had pea shoots though but they're usually a salad thing here, really tasty.