Last week was my first time tasting and cooking with sorrel. By reading articles online, I soon learned that the tanginess of sorrel pairs best with anything creamy. Sorrel is an interesting vegetable, halfway between an herb and spinach. I think it is best described as an intensely lemony spinach. If you love lemon, then sorrel is the vegetable for you 😊 Trying a soup recipe found online, I soon realized that some modifications were in order – to improve the recipe’s flavor and to use the ingredients I had on hand.
I personally have never seen sorrel in a grocery store. For this recipe, my husband and I grew the sorrel in our kitchen herb bed. It grew relatively quickly and easily, although we noticed that one plant did not produce very much greenery – perhaps because it has such a strong flavor! In any case, I would recommend any Glam-Steader to try growing it. You may like it as much as I do!
This is my first recipe using sorrel. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
4-5 cups Water
2-3 large Carrots
1 medium Onion
2 Tbsp Cooking Fat (avocado oil, olive oil, tallow, ghee)
1 bunch Fresh Parsley
3 medium Potatoes
Chicken or Vegetable Bouillon, to taste
1 Bay Leaf
¼-½ pound Fresh Sorrel
1 cup Frozen/Canned Corn
1 cup Winter Squash of your choice
1 cup Coconut Cream
2-3 Tbsp Corn Starch
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Fresh herbs for garnish, optional
2 poached eggs per bowl of soup, optional
Method:
Begin by sautéing the chopped carrots and onion on medium heat in the cooking fat, adding in a little salt to help the vegetables release their flavors. Let them cook for 5-10 minutes, until the onion is translucent.
Add in the bunch of chopped parsley, diced potatoes, broth, and bay leaf. Bring the soup to a boil then let it simmer for 10 to 20 minutes. For the broth, add in 4 or 5 cups, depending on how thick or thin you would like the soup to be.
Once the potato is cooked through, add the corn, cubed squash and coconut cream, letting that simmer for another 10 minutes (or until the squash is fully cooked).
Add the chopped sorrel into the soup pot. Don’t be alarmed when it turns from a beautiful green to a yellowish color. It still tastes delicious!
Then mix the cornstarch in a small bowl with a tablespoon (or two) of water. Add a few tablespoons of hot broth from the soup pot into the bowl of starchy slurry, give it a good mix, then gradually reintroduce it into the soup pot, stirring well to incorporate the starch into the soup. Let it simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the starch doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
Finally, add salt and pepper to fit your personal taste. Dish up and enjoy!
Add on: If you would like more protein in your soup, poach two eggs in a separate pot of water. I poached them for 5 to 7 minutes, until they reached my desired consistency. The poached eggs were firm but beautifully soft and silky in the middle – a lovely addition to the soup!
Sarah’s Experimentation Notes:
The original recipe called for sour cream instead of coconut cream. However, I’m so glad I used coconut cream! It gave the soup a delicious creamy undertone, yet paired with the sorrel was so light and refreshing! I almost forgot I was eating a cream-based soup 😊 Feel free to use whatever cream base you would like, be that heavy cream, cashew cream, sour cream, etc.
The soup BEFORE adding the sorrel tasted like a pleasant cream-based soup, but WITH the sorrel it took on a whole new flavor – tangy and light! I was personally amazed at what a difference the sorrel made to the dish. Depending on how tangy you like your soup, add more or less sorrel.
Adding in the carrots, corn and squash all give the recipe depth of flavor and extra sweetness. I found that the sweetness really added to the soup, balancing out the savory and tangy flavors from the other ingredients. If you would prefer to not add those sweeter ingredients, that is up to you. I love having the freedom to experiment with ingredients, customizing recipes to fit my family’s palate 😊
I initially tried eating the soup with hard-boiled eggs, but poached eggs were far superior. What a difference cooking method can make!
Finally, this was my first time making poached eggs. Turns out, it isn’t hard to do! Just boil a pot of water, then turn down the heat until the water is just barely boiling. Crack an egg (or two, or three!) into the water. Do not stir or disturb the eggs in the water. Let them gently cook for 5 to 7 minutes, depending on how firm you want your egg yolk to be. This may not be the professional way to poach an egg, but I was very happy with the results.
If you give this a try and have comments/suggestions, please do share below!
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