Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Radish-Leaf Soup


While I'm in New York this summer, my husband is in France, and I was very downhearted to learn that he was making soupe aux fanes de radis for supper—without me! I asked him to send me the recipe so that I could share it with you. It's based on a soup that his grandmother used to make (she was from Alsace). It is written in French, and it is very sketchy, but I will attempt to loosely translate:

Get a bunch of radishes (about 40 to 50, he says, which sounds like a lot but who am I to say?), making sure the leaves are really fresh. Remove the leaves at the stem, throw them in the blender with a little water, and chop them on low. Put the mixture in a pot with some salted water, and cook over medium heat for as long as you like because he didn't specify. Meanwhile, boil two potatoes, mash them roughly, and add them to the pot. Season with 1/2 tsp (each) cumin, curry, and pepper and cook another 20 minutes or so on low. Add 1/4 liter of milk and 2 tsp creme fraiche, and a little more salt if necessary. 


And that's it. But just in case I've forgotten something, here it is in French, exactly as he sent it to me.




-acheter une botte de radis, soit environ 40/50 radis, avec toutes leurs feuilles. 
-couper les feuilles à 1cm du radis et les rincer pour enlever le sable.
-les hacher menu avec le mixeur, ajouter de l'eau pour ce faire.
-mettre environ à cuire à feu moyen avec de l'eau salée il faut que le total fasse environ 1 litre ½ 
-dans une autre casserole, faire bouillir 2 pommes de terre moyennes 
-quand elles sont cuites, les écraser en purée grossière 
-les ajouter aux fanes de radis, laisser cuire encore 20 minutes à feu doux
-au bout de 10 minutes ajouter ½ cuillère à thé de cumin, une autre de curry et une autre de poivre
-à la fin de la cuisson, ajouter ¼ de litre de lait et 2 cuillères à soupe de crème fraiche, resaler si nécessaire. Inutile de poivrer plus, les fanes de radis sont poivrées naturellement.

et voilà

Attention, les fanes de radis s'abiment très vite, il faut faire la soupe quand elles sont encore fraiches!  


Patrick

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