Summery Vegetable Soup featuring special guest, Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi. Sounds exotic, no? And when a food sounds exotic, we get a little nervous. But kohlrabi is not to be feared; it is to be embraced!

We first tried kohlrabi when it showed up on our doorstep in a Washington’s Green Grocer box. We enjoyed it so much that we purchased it on a recent trip to Wegmans.

A turnip-like vegetable, kohlrabi is excellent sautéed, roasted, enjoyed raw and in soup. Just slice off the outer green skin to reveal the white of the kohlrabi. Dice it up and have fun! We tried all of the aforementioned preparation methods. Here’s the easy soup recipe, modified from this one. No kohlrabi on hand? Substitute other seasonal vegetables. It’s just that easy.

Summery Vegetable Soup

1 leek, sliced

1 kohlrabi bulb, diced

1 zucchini, diced

1 sweet potato, diced

1 box vegetable stock, low- or no-sodium

1 Tbsp. oil

salt

2% milk (optional)

In a medium-sized pot, heat a tablespoon of oil. Cook leek until tender. Add kohlrabi, zucchini, sweet potato and enough vegetable stock to cover the veggies. Reserve remaining stock. Simmer until all are tender. With an immersion blender (or a regular blender), puree tender vegetables to desired consistency. Add salt (and milk, if you want a creamier soup, or more stock to thin the soup) to taste.

What’s your favorite homemade soup? How do you enjoy kohlrabi?