Farmers Market Turnip Soup
One of the best parts about going to a Farmers Market is the produce! I love being able to talk to the merchants and ask questions about what is in season and learn about new foods that I may not be familiar with. My vegetable knowledge is pitiful and I have been on a mission to educate myself.
Today, I pointed to a turnip and called it a radish. Sigh. At least they’re in the same family. To make up for my ignorance, I bought a bundle of them and decided to make a cozy winter soup with them because it was thirty-something degrees outside! I love, love, love cozy winter weather and creamy homemade soups.
In addition to my beautiful dirt-covered turnips, I bought some onions and kale to add to my soup. I didn’t know how I was going to make this soup, but I knew I had some russet potatoes, garlic, and bacon at home. The combination of these ingredients sounded like it might just be delicious. I was going rogue and leaving recipes behind! This wintery and seasonal soup was going to be all mine!
After aggressively brushing the dirt off my veggies (they were all over the onions too), I cubed two medium potatoes, two turnips, and one medium onion. For some reason, I thought it wise to weigh how much I was adding because the turnip sizes were completely different and I wanted to be able to make this again in the future. One turnip was massive and another was teeny-tiny. That is why I have ounces listed in the recipe below. If only I decided to measure and time everything else.
I tossed them into a stock pot with two cloves of smashed garlic, a teaspoon-or-so of salt and pepper, and a few sprigs of thyme from my new thyme plant that I bought at the farmers market. I added an entire 32 oz. box of chicken broth and it was just enough to completely cover everything. After bringing it to a simmer, I covered the pot and cooked them until they were tender enough to mash with a fork. I haven’t the slightest idea how long this took but I think it was maybe an hour. Who knows - I was distracted.
After they were nice and smooshy, I used an immersion blender to make it nice and smooth. I slowly poured in some heavy cream (I used a vegan one because heavy cream hurts my insides) and whisked everything until it was creamy. I probably added about one cup of cream. To make this soup even better, I added some chunks of bacon and kale. Note - I added these at the end because I didn’t want them to cook down and get soggy. To finish, I ladled it into a bowl, added a really awful circle of cream to make it look fancy, sprinkled with pepper, and added more bacon because it looked nice and bacon is life.
Y’all - this soup was SOOO YUMMY! I couldn’t believe it. It was delicious, filling, and incredibly cozy! It looks like there are about five or six bowls worth of soup, so we will be loving this for leftovers tomorrow!
If you’d like to make your own turnip soup, I listed the recipe below.
Serves: 5-ish Maybe
Farmers Market Winter Soup
Recipe
2 Turnips (1.25 lbs) - Cubed
2 Russet Potatoes (1.25 lbs) - Cubed
1 Medium Yellow Onion - Cubed
2 Cloves of Garlic - Smashed
32oz. Chicken Broth
1 Teaspoon of Kosher Salt
1 Teaspoon of Black Pepper
Few Sprigs of Thyme
1 Cup of Heavy Cream
Bacon - Chopped
Kale - Destemmed and Chopped to Bite Sizes
Directions
Add turnips, potatoes, onion, garlic, broth, salt, pepper, and thyme to stockpot.
Cover and heat on a low simmer until they are tender enough to easily mash with a fork.
Use an immersion blender until smooth.
Slowly whisk in heavy cream. You can use less or more, depending on preference.
Add your chopped bacon and chopped kale. Let the kale cook for about five minutes.
Add more kosher salt and pepper to taste.
Ladle soup into bowl and top with ground black pepper, a swirl of heavy cream to look fancy, and some chopped bacon.
Enjoy!