soup – Babushka Training

pickle soup (zupa ogórkowa)

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Let’s talk about the weather, because food and weather always go together. We are in that strange time of year where fall starts to creep up slowly. It starts with a couple of cool days that feel like heaven because the sun is still warm enough to tingle the surface of the skin. Then it comes in fast with a day where we do not have enough clothes on and we get a little tickle in our throat that turns into full on sore the next morning. I am very much not looking forward to that day or to my first winter in Chicago in 8 years. Every year I have dreams of trying to enjoy winter, we will see if I am better this year. I really really want to like winter, but every time it comes around I can’t seem to keep my spirits up. What about you?

This soup seemed to me to represent this time, mostly because it isn’t really seasonal. In some ways it is a winter soup because well, it is soup. But also because it is made from pickles so you don’t really need the bounty of summer produce to enjoy it. But maybe it’s actually perfect right now when we are not in love with squash yet and so cold that all we want is fat. We still want a little funky freshness, so try this funky delicious soup.

It’s a basic soup that is flavored with brine pickles to add a little tang, just enough.

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Pickle Soup / Zupa Ogórkowa

2 tbsp butter

1 onion, diced

1/2 tbsp dried marjoram

salt/pepper

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1 small parsnip, peeled and diced

2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

6 cups of vegetable stock

4-6 pickles in brine (not vinegar pickles), grated on a cheese grate

1/2 cup pickle brine

1/3 cup sour cream

1/2 tbsp flour

dill

– In a large pot heat the butter. Cook the onions until soft. Season with salt and pepper and marjoram. Add carrots and parsnip. Cook about 5 minutes.

– Add the stock and potatoes. Bring to a boil and then simmer 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.

– Grate the pickles if not already grated. once the potatoes are cooked add the pickles and simmer another 10 minutes. Add the brine.

– Mix the sour cream in a small bowl with the flour until combined and then add 1 cup of the warm soup. Mix it well until everything is dissolved. Add it back to the soup. Season with more salt/pepper to taste and serve with chopped dill.

enjoy!

chłodnik (cold beet soup)

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Oh you’ve never had a cold pink soup before? Pretty awesome right? It looks exotic but it is basically beets, radishes and cucumbers with some kefir and buttermilk and lots of herbs. Perfect for a hot day.

And it’s been hot. So hot that I don’t want to cook. I don’t want to turn the oven on and I definitely don’t want to carry two heavy bags of groceries home from my train stop or even the closest grocery store.

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So this is a Polish, among other countries, soup. Chłodnik basically means something cold, in this case a soup, and it seems to always refer to this type of soup. The ch is pronounced like an h and the ł sounds like a w, and everything else sounds like it should, so good luck saying it. Gevork, my boyfriend, speaks Russian and he has so much trouble pronouncing the chł combination, which we practice with the word for boy: chłopiec. This chłodnik also includes botwinka (w sounds like a v), which is the greens of young beets. Cold soup doesn’t seem to be a popular choice in America, and it is a shame. This soup is full of summer goodness. There are many variations of how to make it, it’s kind-of like all soups where you can really play around with it once you’ve made it once. I am leaving a simple classic variation here but feel free to get inspired.

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Chłodnik

4 small beets with leaves

1 lemon – or beet kwas – or both (I used some kwas I made to give it a tang – recipe here)

handful of radishes (about 6)

handful of small cucumbers (about 4)

2 cups kefir

2 cups buttermilk

1/2 tbsp salt

pepper

freshly chopped parsley, dill and chives

hard boiled eggs, quartered

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– Peel and chop the beets into small diced cubes. Chop the leaves and stems finely as well. Place the beets and leaves into a large pot and cover with water and boil them for 15-20 minutes just until the beets are cooked but the color stays.

– Meanwhile clean the radishes and cucumbers and cut off the ends. Julienne them into thin little matchsticks. Place them in a bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour the kefir and buttermilk on top. Toss in the herbs and stir well. Refrigerate if needed.

– Once the beets are cooked let them cool with the liquid at room temperature and then place in the fridge for a bit to cool more.

– Pour the kefir mixture into the beets and mix well. The color should look beautiful now! Let the whole thing cool, season more if needed and serve with hard boiled eggs.

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smacznego!

sorrel soup

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I just got back from a lovely couple of days in Chicago visiting my parents. It wasn’t the Bahamas or Iceland but it felt so nice nonetheless. Anytime we get away from our normal routine it is so refreshing. I used to come visit and get very anxious to get back to my life in New York and would feel that Chicago was so boring and lame. But I just welcome it so much now, because I’m pretty lame and Chicago is actually pretty cool. I do love the mid-west, I know mountains and oceans are better but the midwest is special, there is something in the air that floats around and makes you feel ok about yourself.

We celebrated Easter and it was lovely. Saturday we got our baskets blessed and I made a traditional Polish Easter dessert called mazurek, we dyed hard boiled eggs and had an array of sandwiches and babkas and cheesecake. I think Easter is my favorite holiday and I never come to Chicago for it and I’m so glad I did this year. We also went to the botanical garden and I got some glamour shots of how beautiful nature is! I wish I was as beautiful as a flower!

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My mother’s garden is also starting to slowly show signs of life. The nettle and sorrel are the strongest and when I saw the sorrel I got so excited to make sorrel soup! I tried to make it last year in the summer and it is so hard to find sorrel in the city. I found some at the farmers market but it would be just small little bundles and only for part of the season. So I made this great soup yesterday. It is simple farm food, sorrel is easily found in Europe and a popular ingredient for soup and sauces. If you can find it here get it and enjoy it, or if you have a garden plant some! It is a sturdy plant.

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Sorrel Soup

1 small onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp butter

3-4 small potatoes, peeled and diced

6 cups vegetable broth

salt and pepper

1/2 pound or about 6 cups sorrel, chopped

1 cup sour cream

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

hard boiled eggs, cut 4 ways

parsley or dill for garnish

– Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a stock pot on medium. Add the onion until soft and fragrant. add the garlic. Add the potato with salt and pepper and cook about 1 minute. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer until potatoes are almost cooked, about 30 minutes.

– Meanwhile heat a skillet and add 1 tbsp butter. Add the sorrel until wilted, it will turn a muddy green. Turn off heat and add the sorrel to the soup once the potatoes are cooked. Continue simmering.

– Mix the sour cream with flour in a bowl and add about 1/4 cup of broth slowly until combined. This will insure it does not curdle and clump. Add it back to the simmering soup. Simmer a bit more, until the potatoes are cooked.

– S rve with pieces of hard boiled egg and chopped herbs. Season to taste.

– This can also be eaten cold.

cheers, julia