From Plot to Pot

Celery & Turnip Top Soup

Recipe Card: Celery & Turnip Top Soup

A winter warmer for a Scottish June

A simple green soup made from allotment thinnings, celery and elephant garlic — finished with parmesan and a spoonful of wholegrain mustard for a little warmth and depth.

Section: The Pot
Type: Soup / light meal
Serves: 2–3
Season: Early summer thinnings, cold June evenings

Ingredients

  • A good handful of turnip and kohlrabi thinnings, washed
  • Several sticks of celery, chopped
  • 1 small turnip, chopped, if available
  • 1 clove elephant garlic, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
  • Salt and black pepper
  • Water or vegetable stock, enough to cover
  • A small handful of grated parmesan, plus extra to serve

Method

  1. Warm the olive oil in a pan and gently cook the chopped celery and elephant garlic for a few minutes, until softened but not browned.
  2. Add the chopped turnip, kohlrabi and turnip thinnings. Stir everything together so the greens wilt slightly in the oil.
  3. Pour in enough water or vegetable stock to cover the vegetables. Season with a little salt and pepper.
  4. Simmer gently until the celery and turnip are soft.
  5. Add the teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, then blend the soup until mostly smooth. Leave a little texture if you like it rustic.
  6. Stir through the parmesan while the soup is still hot. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
  7. Serve with a little extra parmesan scattered over the top.

Notes from the plot

This is a useful way to make a meal from those small but perfectly good thinnings that come out when turnips and kohlrabi need space to grow. The leaves give the soup a gentle brassica flavour, the celery keeps it fresh, and the mustard and parmesan make it feel more like proper comfort food than a bowl of rescued greens.

Best eaten when June is pretending to be November.

Forgot cubed potato Thought for a second

Yes — cubed potato belongs in the base and will help thicken it nicely.

Updated ingredient line

  • 1 medium potato, peeled or scrubbed and cut into small cubes

Updated method detail

Add the cubed potato along with the chopped turnip, kohlrabi and turnip thinnings, then simmer until the potato is soft before blending.

So the soup becomes:

Celery, Turnip Top & Potato Soup

A winter warmer for a Scottish June

The potato makes it more filling and gives the soup that lovely thick, comforting texture — very much a proper cold-day allotment soup rather than just a light green broth.

Yep it worked well and made use of the few veg still available from the allotmentThought for a second

Great — that’s exactly the sort of “Plot to Pot” recipe that earns its place: not fancy, but genuinely useful, seasonal, and made from what was actually there.

You could add this note to the card:

Plot note

This soup worked really well as a proper cold-weather comfort bowl, despite it supposedly being June. It also made good use of the few vegetables still available from the allotment — celery, thinnings, turnip tops, a bit of potato and some elephant garlic — turning odds and ends into a satisfying meal rather than compost.

And perhaps the final title should be:

Celery, Turnip Top & Potato Soup

A winter warmer for a Scottish June

The potato is worth mentioning because it makes it more substantial and helps the soup blend into that thick, comforting texture.