Sorrel Soup (Zupa Szczawiowa)

French Sorrel - you can get some at
Four seasons herbs

The Polish have been foragers for many generations, and our family is no exception, as you might have gathered from the excitement over mushrooming or the collection of - ahem - windfall apples! Sorrel grows wildly in much of Europe, and you can occasionally find patches in Australia as well - though it is not a native here.

To make my foraging life easier, when I found some "French sorrel" at the nursery I just had to get some.  This is a lovely large leafed plant, with leaves that resemble that of English spinach. To look at anyway - the taste is quite different. Sorrel has a slightly lemony tanginess that I adore. There are many other varieties of sorrel - my grandmother used to grow wood sorrel under her trees and I have fond memories of chomping on its tart stalks on summer days.


Sorrel has got to be one of the lowest maintenance green leafy things I have ever grown - plant it somewhere, neglect it, step on it, forget about it  - and it just keeps right on growing. I love the leaves in salads over summer to add a little zing. Anyway, it is the end of autumn and the frosts have started - and the sorrel is dying back. Not to worry, it will resurrect itself beautifully in spring. But I must do something special with this last lot of sorrel, so I am making a lovely little sorrel soup.This soup is really tangy and lemony, and the cream acts to balance that acidity.
It really is a refreshing and surprisingly light soup.

Ingredients

4 to 6 cups of sorrel roughly chopped
1/2 cup of finely diced shallots or wild onions.
1 litre good stock
1 or 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
¼  cup of either cream, sour cream, or creme fraiche
Salt
Fresh cracked black pepper

Hard boiled eggs (one per serving - optional)

Method

Saute onions until soft.

Add in the potatoes and stock. Bring to boil, and cook until the potatoes are falling apart.

Add in the sorrel and cook down - will not take long! If the potatoes have not melted and fallen apart then give them a quick mash through the soup.

Temper the cream/sour cream with a little hot soup, and then stir it through the soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a hard boiled egg (or a poached one, as I do with my paraj) and some crusty bread.

sorrel soup - tangy and delicious!

Wood Sorrel