Zupa!

August 1, 2012

The beautiful days of summer are slowly getting shorter here in Gdansk.  Pretty soon the dark, cold days and nights of winter will be upon us and I will be further compelled to make SOUP! 

Soup in Polish is "zupa" and it is a staple if not the backbone of Polish fare.  It is hard to say if it has evolved this way due to 50 years of Communist rule, when the Poles had to stretch every calorie, or not.  There is no better way to make do with nothing than with soup.  It fills you up and contains relatively low calories because, well, let's face it, most of it is flavored water.

There is not enough time in the day or in my lifetime to talk about all the different types of Polish soups.

The ones that are most familiar to some Americans (ok, maybe not to you in the Deep South) are barszcz (beet soup- there are white, red and Ukrainian varieties), cucumber soup, and Zurek.

This Southern cook decided to make Zurek for dinner the other night.  I scanned recipes online in Polish and in English, and found that I did not have everything on hand to make Zurek. In fact, it would be impossible for me to run to the local grocery store and get everything I need.  Zurek takes at least 4-5 days to prepare!

The key ingredient is what takes so long. It is also the key to Zurek's trademark sour taste.

What is it?, you ask?  It is a sourdough starter of rye flour and water.  

You mix up some rye flour and water and leave it out on your counter top to sour in a jar for 4-5 days. Now, this sounds great if you live in the San Francisco Bay area, where the wild yeast is fabulous and makes stuff super sour. 

I may have to get brave and try it here in Gdansk.  I may just have to make some bread too!

Who knew that a sourdough starter could be used to make....soup???

So, my idea for Zurek was shot down pretty quickly.  So what did I do?  

I just made NON-SOUR Zurek!

For 4-6 portions of soup:

I bought 200g of chicken bones for 25 cents from our butcher lady, and brought them to a boil in the biggest pot we have, (with about 2-3 liters of water) with leek, carrot, parsley root and leaves, entire head of garlic, celery stalk, and celery root.  Added salt and pepper to taste, and strained off the beautiful broth (technically this was a stock since there were bones involved).

Simmered for 4 hours, then allowed to cool before straining out all the spent bits.

When it was time to cook the soup, I took half of the stock, brought it to a simmer, and added:

- 3 large carrots, scrubbed, chopped fine

- 1 large onion, chopped fine

- 1 large celery root, peeled, washed, chopped fine

- 2 stalks of celery, chopped fine

-  big handful or two of spinach, chopped 

- 2 links of white pork sausage (still hooked together...how cute is that!)

- 2 hard-boiled quail eggs per person (or 1 hard boiled chicken egg per person) -cook in another pot-

The key to cooking hard-boiled quail eggs is to bring the water to a boil, gently slide in the eggs, and boil for 4-5 minutes.  Remove from water and peel them under running cool water. 

Simmer the soup until the pork sausage links are firm to the touch (~10 minutes on a medium-hard boil), then remove the sausage and let it cool slightly.  When cool enough to handle, slice into 1 inch chunks, then put them back into the soup.

Simmer for another 10-15 minutes or until the small bits of veggies are cooked through.

Peel your previously cooked quail or chicken eggs and slice in half. (Be sure to cook these in another vessel - not in the soup!)

Toss in a handful of chopped parsley and chives into the soup pot right before serving.

Ladle the soup into bowls, and float two quail eggs on top.

Quail eggs are a delicious and a very petite, gourmet touch to such a humble soup.

They are extremely easy to find in Poland. I have not seen a grocery store or market without them yet.

You can even buy them from the little old lady on the curb next to the main market - the same one selling mushrooms she picked in the forest and has sunflowers from her own garden. 

Smacznego!