Culinary Guides

This is our go to soup when the first young turnips come in with their greens still attached. It is spicy, brothy, and light, and apart from quick pickling the eggs, which you can do a day ahead, it comes together in about 30 minutes. We use the whole plant here, root and greens, so buy young bunches with the tops on if you can. If your turnips arrive without greens, a handful of chopped spinach, chard, or kale steps right in.

Ingredients

For the soy pickled eggs

• 4 eggs
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar

For the soup

• 1 pound ground pork
• 2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• Hefty pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 stalks green garlic, finely chopped (white and pale green parts only), or garlic cloves
• 1 small bunch turnips with their greens, turnips cut into 1/2 inch chunks and greens roughly chopped
• 4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce, plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce

Optional toppings

• 1 to 2 tablespoons kraut-chi or kimchi
• 1 tablespoon fermented chili paste

Directions

Pickle the eggs

1. Gently lower the eggs into a saucepan of boiling water and cook for 7 minutes. Transfer to ice water, cool until you can handle them, then peel.
2. Bring the garlic, pepper flakes, soy sauce, vinegar, and 2 cups water to a boil, then reduce and simmer for 5 minutes. Off the heat, add the peeled eggs and let them marinate at least 1 hour, or in the fridge overnight.

Make the soup

1. Mix the ground pork with the ginger, red pepper flakes, cumin, salt, and pepper until well combined.
2. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat and cook the green garlic about 1 minute, until fragrant.
3. Add the pork, break it up with a wooden spoon, and cook until browned and no longer pink, 5 to 7 minutes.
4. Add the water and turnip chunks, reserving the greens. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the turnips are fork tender, about 10 minutes.
5. Stir in the turnip greens, soy sauce, and fish sauce and simmer 5 minutes. Taste and add more soy sauce if needed.
6. Ladle into bowls, top each with a soy pickled egg, halved if you like, and garnish with kraut-chi or kimchi and a dollop of chili paste.

Pickle the eggs a day ahead to make this a true weeknight soup. Leftovers keep in the fridge for up to three days and reheat gently on the stove.

Grower's tip: turnips turn woody and sharp once they size up, so pull them young, somewhere between a golf ball and a tennis ball, when the flesh is still sweet and crisp. Sow a short row every two to three weeks in spring and again in late summer, and you will always have tender roots and greens for a pot like this one.

Almost everything in this bowl starts in the garden. Sow a patch of turnip seeds for roots and greens on one plant, and keep spinach and kale going nearby for the cooler months when this soup tastes best.