I remember when I was about eight, my dad showed me where to gather wild sorrel leaves beneath the hedge in our garden. We called them 'sourocks' and I used to pick them and eat them raw. I loved the sour green-apple taste. I only later found out the plant was more widely known as sorrel and, more specifically, 'sheep's sorrel'. The leaves were very small and when I read that sorrel soup was popular in France, I thought to myself, 'They must have to gather an awful lot of sourocks to make a pot of soup'. It was years later when I first saw a bunch of the large-leaved and succulent garden sorrel.
This started out as Sveta's sorrel soup but I've added some rosemary and mint to the list of ingredients. This type of sorrel soup is a traditional Russian recipe, although, like most folk recipes, I'm sure the exact list of ingredients and method of cooking vary from home to home. I don't suppose mint or rosemary are ever on the list, though. The main thing to note is that this not French sorrel soup. That's a creamy, liquidised affair, whereas this is a more substantial vegetable broth. Both are tasty soups.
Russians consider sorrel to be good for your system in the spring, when it helps to clean your blood after a winter diet of stored and preserved foods. I think it also contains a lot of vitamins and minerals and probably gives you a wee jab of the vital nutrients that you might have been lacking through the cold dark months. Whatever the case, this recipe I've put together results in a delicious fresh, tangy soup. Give it a try.
Ingredients
About 400g of sorrel
7-800g of potatoes
1 or 2 carrots
2 or 3 onions
4 vegetable stock cubes or their equivalent
A bunch of spring onions
A bunch of fresh dill
A few sprigs of fresh mint
A teaspoon of dried rosemary
1 or 2 bayleaves
Vegetable oil
Salt
5 litres of water
Heat the water in a large soup pot and while it's heating, peel the potatoes, onions and carrots and wash the sorrel, green onions, mint and dill. Cut the potatoes into 3 cm cubes, roughly chop the onion and grate the carrot. When the water boils add the potatoes and bayleaves. Fry the chopped onion until it is soft and transparent then add the grated carrot. Fry for two or three minutes more. Add the onion and carrot to the pot when the potatoes are soft, and a few minutes later add the chopped stalks from the sorrel along with the vegetable stock. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes then add the chopped sorrel leaves. Cook for a further 2 minutes, adding salt to taste, then switch off the heat. Stir in finely chopped dill, mint and spring onion, plus the dried rosemary. The soup is ready to serve.
Like most Russian soups, this is often served with a spoonful of sour cream floating in it and a plate of bread at the side.