Sauerkraut Souppolish Style |
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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 150 Minutes |
Ready In: 150 Minutes Servings: 12 |
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My adaptation of my grandmother's traditional Polish sauerkraut soup. Most holiday meals begin with this soup, but most often served on Christmas Eve before our pierogi and kielbasa supper. It is well liked by people who don't like sauerkraut usually. Ingredients:
1 cello bag of refrigerated sauerkraut, drained-not rinsed |
1 2 oz. container of dried imported mushrooms, polish import if possible |
1/4 cup of dry sherry or enough to cover mushrooms |
1 large yellow onion, minced. |
2 or 3 smoked pork neck bones |
1 bay leaf |
a few sprigs of fresh thyme |
1/2 tablespoon of whole peppercorns |
handful of flat leaf parsley |
2 tbsp. of canola oil/or mixture of one butter/one oil |
2 tbsp. of flour |
2 quarts of low sodium chicken stock |
1 cup of sour cream |
chives, snipped |
Directions:
1. Drain sauerkraut don't rinse. Reserve juice and sauerkraut.
2. Chop the saurkraut to finest shred possible.
3. Soak the imported mushrooms in warm sherry for 20 minutes. Strain mushrooms through a strainer lined with a coffee filter. Reserve liquid and mushrooms.
4. In a heavy sauce pot, heat butter/oil, add onion and cook til translucent.
5. Add flour and cook for a few minutes more to get rid of the raw flour taste. Add the neck bones to the onion/flour/butter mixture. Heat a few minutes while you prepare your bouquet garni.
6. Tie the peppercorns/bay leaf/thyme/parsley in a cheesecloth bag or alternately put them in a tea ball.
7. Add stock to the pot, along with the sauerkraut, mushrooms and bouquet garni.
8. Simmer on low heat for almost two hours. Taste and add sauerkraut juice if you want a stonger piquant flavor.
9. Remove bouquet garni and discard/remove neck bones and discard.
10. In the last five minutes, add sour cream and stir gently and heat over the lowest possible heat. You don't want the sour cream to boil and curdle.
11. Adjust for seasoning, adding salt or pepper.
12. Serve in shallow bowls with an extra dollop of sour cream if desired and minced chives on top for garnish
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