Polish Sorrel Soup

Saturday was market day and Toronto is definitely a great place to visit the markets.  One of my favourites is the Evergreen Brickworks Farmer's Market.  It's more than just a market - it's an experience and it's impossible to leave there without feeling enriched somehow.  The vendors are all first class, extremely friendly and great educators.  It's not possible to go to the market without struggling over which slow food vendor you want to satisfy your taste buds with.  This should only be my worst first world problem.  On the trip to the market my friends and I talked at great length about the amazing breakfast crepes and how long the lineups were but so worth the wait.  Frankly, there isn't a vendor there who isn't worth the wait - seriously

When we were in Poland it was always pretty easy to find unique soups with a bit of a sour twist to them.  I had no idea what the main ingredient was but found out it was sorrel.  I found a recipe for this interesting  Polish Sorrel Soup  from Barbara Rolek, Eastern European Food Expert.  Barbara is my "go to" person for all things Eastern European.  But, let me tell you - this is not a grocery store item one finds easily.  I had all but given up when, as I walked through the market....voila .... sorrel!!! I'm sure the vendor thought I had really lost it; who gets so crazy over finding sorrel.  For those who aren't familiar with this ingredient I looked it up on Wikepedia:

 "Sorrel soup is a soup made from water or broth, sorrel leaves, and salt.^[1][2] Varieties of the same soup include spinach, garden orache, chard, nettle, and occasionally dandelion, goutweed or ramsons, together with or instead of sorrel.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} It is known in Ashkenazi Jewish, Belarusian,^[4]Latvian,^[6] Lithuanian, Polish, Russian,^[1][2] and Ukrainian^[3][5] cuisines. Its other English names, spelled variously schavel, shchav, shav, or shtshav, are from the Proto-Slavic ščаvь for sorrel. Due to its commonness as a soup in Eastern European cuisines, it is often called green borscht, as a cousin of the standard, reddish-purple beetroot borscht.^[1][4][3][5] In Russia, where shchi (along with or rather than borscht) has been the staple soup, sorrel soup is also called green shchi.^[7][8] In some cookbooks it is called simply green soup.^[2]

Sorrel soup usually includes further ingredients such as egg yolks or whole eggs (hard boiled or scrambled), potatoes, carrots, parsley root, and rice.^[1][2][9] A variety of Ukrainian green borscht also includes beetroot.^[8] In Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian cuisines, sorrel soup may be prepared using any kind of broth instead of water.^[1][2] It is usually garnished with smetana (an Eastern European variety of sour cream).^[1][2] It can also be akosher food. It may be served either hot or chilled.

Sorrel soup is characterized by its sour taste due to oxalic acid (called "sorrel acid" in Slavic languages) present in sorrel. The "sorrel-sour" taste may disappear when sour cream is added, as the oxalic acid reacts with calcium and casein."

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large peeled and sliced carrot
• 1 bunch fresh parsley
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 peeled and cubed medium potatoes
• 1 chicken or vegetable boullion cube
• 1/2 pound fresh sorrel, washed, stemmed as for spinach and chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Chopped fresh dill or parsley
• 2 hard-cooked eggs cut into quarters

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes

• Total Time: 65 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings Polish Sorrel Soup

PREPARATION

1. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, place 6 cups cold water, carrots and parsley. Bring to a boil and add bay leaf, potatoes and boullion cube. Bring back to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender.
2. In a large skillet, melt butter and sauté sorrel for 10 minutes. Transfer to the soup and bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Remove bay leaf. Fork blend sour cream with flour and temper with a few ladles of hot soup. Transfer tempered sour cream to soup, stir well and simmer until thickened and just under the boiling point. Adjust seasonings.

1. Portion soup into heated bowls and garnish with chopped dill or parsley and egg quarters.

We finished all the shopping and it was time for our crepes - delicious as always and really quite filling.  I have a friend who is at the market every week.  He's an Italian from Venezuela who has this passion for all things Spanish.  If that didn't confuse you, he's now planning to go to Morocco and expand his offerings with Moroccan flavours.  Jose Arado who is the owner and main chef at Pimenton   is a total joy to be around and has a forever smile on his face and a big hug waiting for you when you come his way.  I hadn't seen him in a while and was very excited to treat me to one of his creations.  Don't forget, I'm full from the crepe but Jose's enthusiasm is spell binding and there's no way to say no.  He brought me this dish of organic greens with Spanish chorizo sausage topped with a soft cooked egg over the top and a home made hot sauce that was entirely "to die for".   Of course I ate it knowing full well I was going to be full beyond belief.

If you didn't click on Jose's site above make sure you do and watch the you tube video. You'll see an array of Jose's creations, his presence at the market and get infected by the amazing Spanish music and his love of food.  Enjoy!!

Great Canadian Cheese Festival

Prince Edward County (PEC) has really become quite the destination for foodie-related events and get aways. It has been too long since our previous trips to PEC.  Since we're a bit limited in the foodie-related events we can feasibly attend with a baby, I was thrilled to be invited to the Ottawa-based media launch for The Great Canadian Cheese Festival that will be taking place in a couple of weeks in PEC.  

With more than 100 exhibitors and vendors and over 125 different Canadian cheeses to sample, this show is the largest cheese show is Canada.  

    

This event gave a taste of the exhibitors you'll see at the festival.  

Of course, we couldn't pass by Casa Dea Estates Winery's wines without sampling a bit for ourselves!  PEC's wines benefit from a mineral rich soil and a climate moderated by the adjacent Lake Ontario.  

A chilled white wine (I believe it was Pinot Gris) was a delicious way to cool down from the warm weather of the day.

Saavy Company, was behind the marketing of the event.  Saavy Company has organized transportation to the festival for those coming from Ottawa.  Their tour includes a round-trip coach bus and tickets to the festival.

One of my favourite samples came from Seed to Sausage's skewers of a selection of their salami.  This artisan sausage maker uses local products where possible with few additives and preservatives.  Their products are available at a number of locations in Ottawa.  I am going to have to seek out some more of their Lomo.

We spent some time chatting with Salty Don, who can be regularly found at the Ottawa and Carp Farmer's Markets.  It was interesting learning about the different techniques he uses to add flavour and scent to his salts.  

I'm a bit of a sucker for honey.  I regularly use it in baking, in my tea and when making jam, so I am always tempted to buy just "one more jar." I sampled some of Heavenly Honey's creamed cinnamon honey butter, which would be delicious on a piece of toast.  

   

I'm still kind of hoping that we can magically make it to The Great Canadian Cheese Festival.

Melbourne: Part II

After touring the downtown area of Melbourne, which you can read about here, we wanted to check out some other parts of town.

On the second day, we walked from the part of town we were staying in, Brighton, to St. Kilda (about 6-7 km).  The walk by the Bay is lovely, peaceful and gives you a view of some of the nicest real estate in the city.

St. Kilda is an interesting part of town that, after a period of being dodgy, is returning to its original glory.  

After our walk, we were ready for lunch.  We took our chances and tried Rococo.  We started with a Caprese salad and each ordered a panini.   

Both tasted really good and really hit the spot!  

After spending some more time walking around St. Kilda, we were drawn in by the dessert window at the Acland Cake Shop.

Source

Unfortunately, I think in this case, it looks better than it tastes.  I got a vanilla slice.  The custard was sticky and hard to swallow and the pastry was so hard, it was difficult to break apart.

R wasn't a big fan of his dessert either.  

The restaurant is in need of some updating and the bathrooms were in need of toilet paper.  I got the impression that it was a long-run family business, run by people who lost their passion for desserts and customer service a long time ago.

On a different day, we visited the Queen Victoria Market.  The market has the distinction of being the largest market in the southern hemisphere.  

The market has rows upon rows of household items, clothing, shoes, jewellery, etc. 

Produce

Meats

We stopped in the food court for lunch.

and got some famous jam donuts for dessert

After the market, we quickly made our way back downtown to go watch an Aussie Rules football game.  Melbourne is the hub of Aussie Rules, which is actually more popular in Australia than is rugby.  Thankfully, we were with fans of the sport who could explain how the game is played.

We watched a big game between the Richmond Tigers vs Essendon.  The guys we were with were cheering for (or as they say in Australia, barracking for) the Tigers.  The atmosphere was great, with somewhere around 80,000 spectators.

In the end, the Tigers won and their theme song was played:

Sydney, Australia: Part 3

Are you getting tired of my trip reports?  I've come this far, with my posts about New Zealand (part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4), Cairns, Sydney (part 1 and part 2), I can't stop now!

Here's my last post about Sydney:

The next day, we started with a walk through The Rocks Market.  The market has some cute crafts and yummy-looking food, but you have to search for good deals because they don't jump out at you.

After visiting the market, we took a ferry to Manly Beach.  Along with Bondi, Manly is one of the most popular beach areas in Sydney.

We spent most of our time enjoying the nice weather and watching the surfers.  I still can't figure out the rules they follow to determine who gets to take the wave.   These instructions are posted on the beach, but I have no idea what they mean.

Here's some film I took of the surfers.  

Before leaving, I managed to track down some Lamingtons on the main drag between the ferry terminal and the beach.  So good!

The ferry ride home, as the sun was setting, was beautiful.  

That night, we went to the Sydney Symphony.  I took this restricted photo and then subsequently got in trouble for it.  

The next day was our last day in Sydney and we still had several things on our list.  For starters, I really wanted to try DinTaiFung.  Rumour was that they have the best dumplings.

I knew, from what I had read, that there would be a lineup.  So, we took some time while waiting outside of the restaurant to review the menu, prepare our order and take pictures through the window of the factory-like dumpling space.  In fact, the whole place runs like a well-oiled machine.

Not being a dumpling expert, I really appreciate the "guide to enjoy the Xiao Long Bao":

Aren't they cute?!?  I want some more.  These dumplings are like little purses of heaven.  I want them to open a takeout window next to the place I work.  No.  I want them to open up a restaurant a couple of blocks from where I live.  I want to reverse time and ignore the full feeling and order another dozen.  Anyway - you get the idea.

The other dishes were also good, but not nearly as good as the dumplings.

After lunch, we walked to the Sydney Fish Market.   

You know your fish is fresh when you can see all of the boats that bring fresh fish in.  

For our last night, we went to see a Rugby game at the ANZ Stadium.

We watched the South Sydney Rabbitohs, a team co-owned by Russell Crowe, play the Wests Tigers.  

The Tigers didn't score during the first half, which left some Tiger fans pretty outraged.  They managed to gain speed in the second half, but the Rabbitohs held on for the win.  It was fun to watch, although we didn't fully understand the rules.  But, now that the Rugby World Cup is on (in New Zealand), we're going to continue to try to figure out the rules and what the difference is between rugby league and rugby union.

With that, our Sydney trip comes to a close.  Next (and last stop) is Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road.