Radish leaf soup with caraway

This recipe is shockingly good! It’s a great thrifty use of radish leaves and is simple to prepare. It’s even OK if your radishes are a little old.

Ingredients

Wash the 100g radishes, trim, cut off any leaves and put aside to use later (the recipe requires 150g radish leaves in total). Slice the radishes into halves, or quarters if they are really large. Put the knob of butter in a large clean saucepan and set over a medium heat. Add the radishes and cook slowly for 3 minutes or until their colour dulls slightly and bleeds into the flesh. Make sure the pan doesn’t get too hot, otherwise the butter will burn. Remove the cooked radishes with
a slotted spoon and put aside.
Add the oil to the same pan and fry the onion, courgette, leek, caraway seeds, bay leaf, celery and garlic for 10 minutes over a low heat. Add 700ml water, the cooked radishes and the rice. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes or until the rice is tender. Remove from the heat.
Add the mint leaves, radish leaves and parsley to the soup, then blend with a stick blender until smooth and a vibrant green. Serve as soon as possible to keep the colour, and be careful not to re-boil the soup as the colour will fade. Serve topped with grated radish and a little butter.

Wash the 100g radishes, trim, cut off any leaves and put aside to use later (the recipe requires 150g radish leaves in total). Slice the radishes into halves, or quarters if they are really large. Put the knob of butter in a large clean saucepan and set over a medium heat. Add the radishes and cook slowly for 3 minutes or until their colour dulls slightly and bleeds into the flesh. Make sure the pan doesn’t get too hot, otherwise the butter will burn. Remove the cooked radishes with
a slotted spoon and put aside.
Add the oil to the same pan and fry the onion, courgette, leek, caraway seeds, bay leaf, celery and garlic for 10 minutes over a low heat. Add 700ml water, the cooked radishes and the rice. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes or until the rice is tender. Remove from the heat.
Add the mint leaves, radish leaves and parsley to the soup, then blend with a stick blender until smooth and a vibrant green. Serve as soon as possible to keep the colour, and be careful not to re-boil the soup as the colour will fade. Serve topped with grated radish and a little butter.

The soup will keep fine for 3 days in a sealed container in the fridge, although it will lose a little of its green vibrancy. Reheat to just below boiling point to serve.
Use a selection of long breakfast radishes and little round ones in purple, white and pink. Give the radishes and radish leaves a thorough wash before using – they can harbour a lot of grit. Fill a sink with ice-cold water and leave them to soak for 30 minutes – most of the grit will drop off and the cold water will perk up the colour.

Save the white part of the leek and use for tarts and pale soups.

Fancy getting a copy in print?