Shchi (щи) Cabbage soup

Shichi is even more of a quintessential Russian soup than borscht. Again, there are many variations.

It has to sit a few days before eating.

Basic ingredients:

1: Cabbage
2: Meat (optional)
3: Carrots or parsley roots
4: Spicy herbs (onions, celery, dill, garlic, pepper, bay leaf).
5: Sour components (smetana, apples, sauerkraut, pickle water).

Smetana is sour cream. I wonder if smetana is much different from Dutch sour cream. Where can I buy smetana in Amsterdam?

Basic Sour Shshi:

1) In a large pot put 1 kilo sauerkraut*, two carrots (chopped), two tomatoes (chopped) and a glass of water. Boil and simmer for 1.5 hours. *) Recipe said 1 kilo. This seemed a bit much so I used 500 gram sauerkraut and some left over white cabbage.



2) Fry a chopped onion in oil and add to the pot with sauerkraut.



3) Add 1.5 liters of water (vegetarian) or beef stock and cook for another 30 minutes.



4) Add 1 tablespoon of flower, pinch of black pepper and parsley. Stir and cook for 15 minutes. Optional: bay leaf, garlic. I also soaked some dried shi-take mushroom and added this to the shchi. And a can of concentrated tomato puree.



5) Simmer for 3, 4 hours on a very low fire.

6) Serve with sour cream.

Borscht (борщ) Beetroot soup

So many variations on this soup. I will start by making a basic version. There is also a cold summer variation in Lithuania called saltibarsciai. Saltibarsciai is buttermilk mixed with beetroot, cucumber, fresh dill, green onion, hard boiled egg and sour cream.

Vegetarians can substitute the beef shank for some carrot, celeriac and other vegetables suitable for stock.

The heart of the soup is a nice piece of beef shank (Dutch: schenkel):


Put beef shank, fresh dill and chopped onion in a pan with three liters of water and simmer for 1.5 hours:


Half an hour after starting the beef broth, melt a tablespoon of butter in a pan. Add 500 gram beetroot (in small cubes), 2 tomatoes (and/or tomato paste) and 1 tablespoon vinegar to the pan. Simmer for one hour.

Fry this for one hour on a low fire in butter (I used three beetroots):


The 'other' ingredients:


Sauté the carrot and garlic 15 minutes before the beef broth is finished:


When the beef broth is cooked remove meat (discard bone) and fat, add chopped potato, 1/4 or 1/2 cabbage (cut in strips) and sautéd carrots & garlic).

Return meat to pot. Cook stock, potato's, carrot and cabbage for 15 minutes


Add the cooked beetroot and boil for 10 minutes:


Season with salt and pepper and add sour cream just before serving. Garnish with chopped dill or parsley. Make sure the sour cream is room temperature.

Potage de Crécy

Four French words for soup: consommé, potage, soupe and bisque.

Potage de Crécy is a creamy carrot soup from the town Crécy, although nobody seems to be sure from which Crécy (there are several towns named Crécy in France).



Recipe
Sauté onion, carrot and a potato in butter or an olive-butter mixture. Instead of onion you can use leek. Sauté for 5 minutes. I used just one potato, some recipes state the same amount of potato's as carrots. You can also add a little rice.

Add chicken stock and thyme and simmer for 30 minutes. De KleinsteSoepfabriek sells an excellent chicken stock.



Cool and puree.

Bring to taste with double cream*, lemon juice and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with fresh parsley or thyme.

*) Due to the awful 'low fat craze' double cream is difficult to get in The Netherlands. I used slagroom.

Coleslaw

I have tried coleslaw (Dutch: koolsalade) before but failed miserably. Now I know why. You can't just use raw cabbage, you have to marinate the shredded cabbage in salt and ample white wine vinegar overnight. This time consuming process softens the cabbage.



The recipe is simple. Shred cabbage and carrot with a mandoline (or electric shredder) in the desired size. I shredded the cabbage more coarse than the carrot. Sprinkle with salt and white wine vinegar and keep in the fridge.



The next day your coleslaw is ready. Mix with mayonnaise or with 50/50 mayonnaise and sour creme. Using sour creme gives the coleslaw a milder taste. I love to add a few caraway seeds. It's pretty tasty without the mayonnaise and/or sour creme as well.

Classic German Linseneintopf (Lentil stew)

Attempt 1 (fail, but stock is excellent)

Step 1: make 1 liter stock with 700 gram smoked Schweinebacke (I used only 200 gram and probably not from that particular part of the pig), one onion (whole), a 40 gram piece of celery root, bay leaf, black pepper corns and salt. Boil and simmer for 60 minutes but after 30 minutes (see step 2).







Step 2: After 30 minutes remove onion, celery root, bay leaf, black pepper corns from stock and add 150 gram carrots (cut in small dice) and 250 gram potatoes (cut in small dice). At this point remove the meat and cut in small dice. Discard excess fat. Return to the stock, add 200 gram soaked green lentils and simmer for another 30 minutes until the lentils are soft and the juice has been reduced.

Step 3: Bring to taste with white wine vinegar and salt.



Note: I used French Puy lentils*, any green lentils are okay. Brown lentils are a better choice for soup.

*) Puy lentils are the wrong choice. They remain too firm. Puy lentils are excellent for a (cold) salad, not for a stew or soup. It's confusing since Puy lentils are also a type of green lentils. Sometimes Puy lentils are called French Green Lentils.

Attempt 2 (success)

I wasn't too pleased with the result yesterday. Puy lentils are completely wrong; they remain too hard. Half a liter of stock was left so I decided to try again, this time using ordinary green lentils.



Fry some smoked bacon in olive oil.



Add onion (diced), carrot (diced), potato (diced), celeriac (diced) and soaked lentils. I added the stock and brought it to a boil.



This time I also added, according to the jar, 'Duitse knakworst' (they resemble Wiener Würstchen).



Simmer until the vegetables are done. The result was excellent. This dish is easy to freeze.