Culinary Guides

A light but satisfying soup that leans on chicory and endive, whose gentle bitterness plays off garlic, lemon, and a little sausage. Cooked rice bulks it up, and a spoonful of bright lemon chili relish on top pulls it all together. The relish is adapted from Heidi Swanson's Near and Far, and the recipe is forgiving, so use what you have.

Ingredients

For the soup

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or bacon fat
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic scapes, finely chopped (or 3 garlic cloves, minced)
• 3/4 pound hot Italian sausage, casings removed
• Fat pinch of salt
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme (or 2 teaspoons dried thyme)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 4 cups water
• 3 cups cooked rice
• 2 to 3 cups chopped chicory (endive, escarole, or radicchio)
• Whole milk yogurt, for serving
• Salt and pepper, for serving

For the lemon chili relish

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 garlic scape, finely chopped (or 1 garlic clove, minced)
• 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (more for a bigger kick)
• 1 preserved lemon, rinsed, seeded, and cut into small pieces

Directions

Make the soup

1. Heat the butter or bacon fat in a large saucepan over medium high heat and cook the onion about 5 minutes until softened.
2. Stir in the garlic scapes and cook 1 minute, then add the sausage and break it up with a wooden spoon. Cook until no longer pink and lightly browned.
3. Add a hefty pinch of salt, the bay leaf, and thyme, then pour in the white wine and water and bring to a low boil. Reduce the heat and simmer about 20 minutes.
4. Add the cooked rice and cook 10 minutes more, then stir in the chopped chicory.

Make the lemon chili relish

1. Heat the olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat.
2. Add the garlic scape and chili flakes and cook, swirling the pan, about 5 minutes until the chili toasts and infuses the oil. Do not let the garlic burn.
3. Off the heat, stir in the preserved lemon, pressing it in with the back of a spoon.

Serve

1. Ladle the soup into bowls with a dollop of yogurt, season with salt and pepper, and top with a spoonful of the relish. Good with toasted sourdough.

No preserved lemons? Make just the chili oil and finish with fresh lemon juice and zest. Kale or spinach can stand in for the chicory.

Grower's tip: chicories like endive and radicchio sweeten after a light frost, which tames their bitterness. Sow them in mid to late summer for a fall harvest, and blanch endive by tying up the outer leaves a couple of weeks before cutting for a milder, paler heart.

This is a soup for the shoulder seasons, and the greens are easy to grow. Sow a patch of chicory, some endive, and an onion bed for the base.