Happy Birthday Latvia
Ann says
OK so it’s a little late. November 18th is Latvian Independence day, so to speak. It was the first independence day, the one before the Soviet occupation, and it’s the one Latvia celebrates due to the illegal and therefore illegitimate nature of the Soviet occupation. History aside, I hadn’t made any Latvian food in a while and I had been craving me some soup!
Sorrel soup, that it. The first time I had it was when I was living with my Latvian language teacher in the University District and on a cool late winter night she came home with a giant grocery bag full of sorrel from a Latvian neighbor. If you wiki sorrel, it will tell you that it is a laxative, and if you manage to find it at the store, they sell it as an herb. What the hell is that about? I have never experienced any laxative effects after eating it and have never had any desire to use the green leafy as an herby flavor. The stuff is sour as can be, and is frequently called sour spinach.
And, seeing as I couldn’t find any sorrel, spinach is what I used. I finely chopped the spinach (not baby spinach) and doused in with the juice of a lemon to sourify while I cooked the rest of the soup. It’s a simple, old-worldy soup that is more Eastern Europe than specifically Latvian, like much of Latvian food. I think my favorite thing about it is the big dollop of sour cream on top when you serve it, and I like to use Nancy’s organic cultured sour cream, because it’s thick and the flavor is amazing. The soup itself is joyfully simple. Beef or lamb with some bones, water, carrots, potatoes, a little green onion for garnish, salt and pepper. you can enhance the broth making process with perhaps some thyme and sage, but it’s not traditional and it’s certainly not necessary. This is winter soup. Herbs don’t exist in old Latvia in the winter. Eat your root vegetables and your horrible tasting greens. Eat them DELICIOUSLY!
Sorrel Soup
serves 6
1 pound cut of beef or lamb with some bone or extra bones
10 cups water
3-5 small potatoes, like Yukon gold, peeled and diced
2-3 carrots, peeled and diced
1-2 cups finely chopped sorrel (or lemon soaked spinach-sorrel is best if you have it)
green onion, chopped for garnish
half the number of eggs as people you are serving, hard boiled
sour cream, also for garnish, but absolutely necessary
salt and pepper to taste
Gently simmer the meat in the water for between 1and 3 hours. The amount of time it takes for the meat to fall apart and to get a good broth depends on your cut of meat. Salt very well and add some pepper too. Take out the meat, cut it into little pieces and set aside, and discard the bone. Some soup-scuz will have formed so do your best to skim that off. Add the potatoes and carrots and cook for about 20 to 30 minutes or until they are cooked through, and then add the sorrel and cook for another 10 minutes. Taste and salt and taste again. Slice the eggs thinly and place 1/2 an egg in the bottom of each serving bowl. Ladel the soup on top. Put a generous dollop of sour cream on top of each bowl of soup and sprinkle with green onion. That’s it!
-aside- if I was going to enhance the broth, I would add some pieces of onion and some thyme and/or sage only. I feel anything else would stray too far from what this soup should be.
Abe says
I had it with lamb bones, beef meat, and a little bit of thyme in the broth; it’s delightful this way and I recommend it.
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