CSA week 18 - paprika cream of turnip and potato soup

My original plan was to do some clever play on the cream version of lettuce soup but I got it into my head to use the dandelion greens as a garnish which would have been a bit much green on green. So the soup turned to turnip.

Of the many turnip soups out there, I thought this one had a more interesting spicing than most. I made it pretty much straight other than only having 3/4 lb of turnips left and having to make up the difference in potatoes. I did salt at each step along the way instead of just at the end. I suppose since everything is blended smooth at the end it wasn't really necessary but I'm just more comfortable seasoning as I go along.

The recipe doesn't specify so I had to decide what sort of paprika to use: sweet, hot or smoked. I went with sweet so as not to overwhelm the flavors of the turnip and potato. They're good quality vegetables and I didn't want to hide them.

The suggested garnish, crisp shallots, sounds nice enough, but I don't have any shallots on hand. I figured a garnish of bacon and turnip greens would more than suffice. I would have added some croutons too if I had any bread at the appropriate level of staleness.

The end result is nothing spectacular but nice enough. I would roast the vegetables next time instead of sauteing them in an overcrowded pan which really limited the browning I could do. That should boost the flavors. And I might mix the paprikas to give hints of heat and smokiness. If I did that it wouldn't hurt to replace the bacon with a garlic sausage. I'd definitely have to add croutons then to keep some crunchiness. I wish I thought of all of that a couple hours ago. Next time, then.