Ukrainian Borsch with Duck and Dried Smoked Pears

 It was time to try out the dried smoked pears from my previous post.  (Click here to visit the post.)

The recipe was from Olia Hercules' book, Summer Kitchens, on page 132.

ISBN 978-1-68188-570-4

Borsch with duck and smoked pears

1/2 cup beet kvas or 1/4 cup good-quality red wine vinegar

2 small beets, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks

1 medium onion, finely diced

1 medium carrot, scrubbed and cut into thin matchsticks or coarsely grated

7 oz canned diced tomatoes

10 oz potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch dice

1/4 cabbage (anything from green to Savoy), sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Sour cream to serve

Stock

2 duck carcasses or 6 duck legs

1 onion, roughly chopped

2 celery ribs, roughly chopped

2 carrots, scrubbed and roughly chopped

Handful of parsley stalks

2 bay leaves

A few sprigs of thyme

4 - 6 dried smoked pears or Agen prunes

Pour the beet kvas or vinegar over the beets and set aside.

Next make the stock.  Put all the stock ingredients except the smoked pears or prunes into a large stockpot and cover with 2 1/2 - 3 quarts of water.  Bring to a boil, skimming off any froth as it appears and, if you are using duck legs, season lightly with salt - this way the meat will be properly seasoned.  Add the smoked pears or prunes and simmer for 1 - 1 1/2 hours over low heat - if using duck legs, the meat should be falling off the bones.

When the stock has been simmering for about an hour, use a ladle to skim some of the fat from the stock and put it into a frying pan over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until soft and taking on some color, then add the carrot and cook until the vegetables start caramelizing - keep skimming and adding fat if the pan seems dry.  Now add the beets together with the liquid they have been pickling in, and cook for 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes and cook over high heat for another 3 minutes.  Take off the heat.

Strain the duck stock into another saucepan, returning the smoked pears or prunes to the stock.  Discard (or compost) the vegetables - and the duck carcasses, if that's what you used.  If you used duck legs, take the meat off the bones and put it in with the stock as well.

Now add the contents of the frying pan to the stock and bring to a boil.  Add the potatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.  Stir in the crushed garlic at the very end, when you are ready to switch off the heat.  

Ladle into soup bowls and serve with a spoonful of sour cream.

My Notes

I used 6 duck legs.  I keep homemade pickled beets in my kitchen often, so I used those instead of pickling fresh beets.  I had to guess what quantity two small beets would be.

I also chose to use 8 ounces of fresh tomatoes instead of the canned.  I used 1/4 of a purple cabbage I had handy, and put in 6 dried pears.

My interpretation of "lightly salting" the duck legs was to use 1/4 teaspoon sprinkled over the meat before the water was added.

It is just so wonderful to make my own stock, starting with all those fresh ingredients and cooking them into a rich, complex liquid. 

Pre-water

At the beginning of the cooking process

At the end of the cooking process

Taking stock

It took a total of 2 hours of slow cooking to get the meat to fall off the bones.  I took the instructions to cook over low heat seriously, which was probably too low!  I bumped up the heat to medium low and that is what got me over the line by two hours.  The difference was simmering versus barely simmering.

After the one hour of simmering mark passed, I skimmed fat from the pan and started cooking the soup vegetables.

Caramelizing onions and carrots.

Now with beets

Next up, the tomatoes

All cooked and ready for the soup pot!

Once the stock was ready to be strained, the duck legs sat draining over a bowl for a little while so they could cool to a comfortable-to-handle temperature.  Then I deboned them and was pleased with the amount of meat they produced.

I estimate 1 1/2 to 2 cups of meat.

The borsch was assembled with the stock, meat, pears, and vegetables from the frying pan.  Then I added the potatoes and cabbage as directed.

Everything went on hold until the entire meal was ready to be served, so the garlic waited until just before serving.  

The Verdict

I served the borsch with homemade French bread and pinot noir.  Sour cream was available to those who wanted it, which was everyone.  Dessert was a peach and sour cherry cobbler with French vanilla ice cream on top.

The pear is the brown item to the right of the sour cream.

I had an extra guest taster, NK, as well as my usual guest taster.

First, I have to say that I probably underestimated the quantity of beets.  I think I should have doubled the amount I put in.  The beet slivers had lost all their color, as expected, but the broth was not as red as the picture in the cookbook had it.  

Next, everyone added salt to their bowls, including me.  This tells me that I probably should have used 1 teaspoon of salt when making the stock.  But it really wasn't a problem -- I typically like to undersalt my dishes so everyone can make it salty to their own taste.  (I like less salt than my usual guest taster.)

I made sure everyone got at least one dried pear in their bowl.  We were all very interested in knowing what it would be like.

The flavor of the borsch was excellent.  There was plenty of duck meat and it was cooked just right -- I know how easy it is to overcook meat once it was at the "falling off the bones" state, so I was happy that I didn't cross that line.  The meat was tender and flavorful.  

The vegetables added so much interest to the dish.  Some were tender and others were tender-crisp, making for a variety of textures to experience while eating.  NK noted that having so many of the vegetables cut into small pieces was good because it helped to unify the soup, which big pieces do not always allow. 

The amount of garlic was pronounced as "just right."  I love garlic, so I would be tempted to put in much more than was listed in the recipe.  However, we all agreed that it added a nice backdrop flavor without being dominant, and that was best.

As for the pears, they were a lovely addition!  The dried pears before cooking was hard as rocks.  The cooked dried pears were tender and moist.  We all would use a spoon to cut off a small piece to include with a mouthful of soup.  The pears added a little burst of sweet and pear flavor to the meat and vegetable flavors.  I didn't taste the smoked flavor but that was probably because I didn't do as good of a job smoking them as I could have.  Practice makes perfect, so I will consider doing it again.

I enjoyed the pears so much that I was sad there were only six to go around.  The next day I made a chicken soup, so I cooked more pears in it and then added them to the leftover borsch just to have more.  I think I would add more pears initially if I make the borsch again.

This was definitely a success.  What a lovely soup!  

I had some leftovers, so when I heated those up, I added a generous spoonful of pickled beets, including some of the pickling juice.

More beets!

Then I reheated it.  The result was an even better (beeter?) borsch:  the beet flavor was more obvious and the pickling juice added a bright acid tang to the broth.  It was lovely!  I should have put the container of pickled beets on the table the first time, to give everyone a chance to up the beet flavor of their serving.  Now I know!

Ms. Hercules states on page 120 that "For every Ukrainian, borsch triggers deep memories and feelings of kinship.  A delectable meal in itself, a bowl of borsch represents family and sustenance, and connects us to home, wherever we find ourselves."

NK brought these.  Thinking of you, Ukraine.

Monastery Bean Soup - one of my Most Favorites

I reserve the last post of the year for one of my most favorite recipes.  Today's is one that I have made since the early 1990s:  Monastery Bean Soup.  I like it because it is different from most bean soups in that it is more brothy, very garlicky, and rich on the tongue.

I have no idea why it is called "Monastery".  I can only speculate and will probably be completely wrong.  This makes me laugh!

In 1993, my mom's side of the family organized a big reunion in Branson, Missouri. Many of us decided to contribute something memorable to the event, like performing skits, singing songs, telling family stories, and more.  I chose to gather family recipes and create a cookbook, and I put this soup recipe into it as part of my contribution.  I was able to assemble and print the entire thing before we gathered, and was happy to be able to hand out copies to everyone who wanted one.  Now, nearly 30 years later, it is fun and touching to read it over.  I think of that good time and of the really nice people in my family.

It is fitting to include this recipe in my most favorites list.  

Monastery Bean Soup

3/4 cup dried navy beans, soaked in hot water for 2 hours or in cold water overnight

6 cups broth (I actually prefer 8 to 12)

1 cup onion, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cup diced carrots

1 seeded and diced yellow pepper

5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (or more!)

1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds

1/2 cup chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon soy sauce

garnish with croutons, red wine vinegar, plain yogurt

The broth is in the saucepan.

Drain beans, then add the broth and simmer for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, sauté the onions and carrots in a little olive oil until the carrots are tender and the onions are limp and clear.  Add pepper, garlic, and caraway.  Cook 1 minute more.

Add a ladle of bean liquid to the onion mixture and stir.  Add onion mixture to the beans.

Simmer, covered, until beans are tender, about 20 minutes.  Thicken the soup a little by crushing some of the beans with a wooden spoon or potato masher.

Add tomatoes and soy sauce and cook 5 minutes more.

At the table, add croutons to the individual bowls, pour on soup, and add a splash of vinegar or a spoonful of yogurt.

My Notes

Today I soaked the beans in water that I heated on the stove until it was steaming.  Once it was hot I put the beans in, turned off the heat, put the lid on the pot, and let them stand for 2 hours.

Then I drained them and added them to the 6 cups of lovely, rich stock I had made from the Thanksgiving turkey carcass.  Once they started simmering I set the timer and got busy on the vegetables.

The broth is still jellied, so the beans sat on top.

The onions and carrots were so pretty as they cooked in the pan!  There was no rush to get them cooked and I noticed it took about 15 minutes to reach the desired level of tenderness.

Just starting.

I turned off the heat and let them wait until the bean simmer was nearly over.  Then I added the pepper, garlic, and caraway.  Now I love the garlic in this soup and I used garlic that was already chopped (from a jar).  I probably put in more than 5 cloves' worth, and I didn't mind at all.

The veggies!

It took about 30 minutes on the second simmer to get the beans tender.  Once they were ready, I added the tomatoes and soy sauce.  

Ready for the tomatoes.

I served the soup about 30 minutes after the tomatoes were added, so to avoid over cooking them, I turned the heat off as soon their five minutes was up.  Then I quickly reheated the soup to steaming just before serving.

The Verdict

How many croutons you put in the bowl is a personal choice.  They tend to soak up the broth and turn the soup into a stew, so judge accordingly.  I used seasoned croutons ("homestyle", meaning they were big) which add some extra flavor to the mix.  My guest taster and I both put a lot of croutons in!

Yum!

Our soup did turn into a stew.  We wished there was more broth, which is why I put my note in the ingredient list about using more.  Nevertheless, it was tasty, as I expected.

The dark is the balsamic drizzle.

My guest taster had never had it before and really enjoyed it.  He liked the amount of garlic, the croutons and the little crunch they added, and the flavor.  

I liked all of that as well as the fresh (not really cooked) tomatoes along with all the other vegetables.  He was surprised that the pepper was in it as he expected it to have a chile bite from it.  The yellow pepper I used is not fiery, just flavorful, and adds a different background note to the broth.

I also love the caraway in it.  Caraway is one of my favorite flavors, so I can't really go wrong here.  I think it brings the soup's flavor to a higher level.

When I put the recipe into the family cookbook, I had not yet learned about the joys of balsamic vinegar.  I was out of red wine vinegar and have a very nice aged balsamic (with a syrup-like consistency), which went very well on this soup/stew.  In the past I have also put sour cream on instead of plain yogurt.  It is all good.

This is a hearty main course dish, and made enough for 2 to 4 servings -- more if there is more broth to go around.  All we added to the meal was a good pinot noir.

Success, as always.  I hope you enjoy this personal favorite.  Think of good times and good people when you serve it.

Boiled Water Soup

I can see my cookbook collection from where I sit at the dining table, so I often find myself looking over the titles and deciding if there is any one title that is "calling" to me.  This time it was Loaf, Crust, and Crumb by Silvija Davidson.

ISBN 0-7181-3825-2

She starts off her book with a discussion of breadmaking, the ingredients and the history of not only making bread but using bread in cookery.  Then she has this amazing directory of bread types; literally about 130 pages of breads and their descriptions all in alphabetical order.  

The descriptions list where the bread originated, main flavors, uses.  Many I have never heard of!  For example, bara brith is a fruit bread from Wales:

The finest bara brith I have tasted was made in a turn-of-the-century wood-fired brick bakehouse ...  It was richly fruited, dense and chewy, made with organic stoneground whole-wheat flour and imbued with the tang of woodsmoke...  (page 28).

The recipes follow this, but make no mistake:  these are not bread recipes.  They are recipes that use bread in a variety of ways.  There are things to do with breadcrumbs, along with recipes for sandwiches, soups, savory dishes, stuffings, sauces, and desserts.   

The recipe that caught my attention was named Aigo Boulido, which "is the Provencal dialect for eau bouillie - boiled water."  I thought it would be amusing to write a blog post on Boiled Water Soup.

Aigo Boulido  (page 224)

1 3/4 pints water

2 - 6 cloves garlic, crushed

1 bay leaf and/or 4 sage leaves

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

1 egg yolk (optional)

4 thick chunks country bread, slightly stale

Put the water, garlic, herbs, oil, and a little salt in a large saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.  Beat the egg yolk in a large jug and gradually strain on the flavoured water (discarding the herbs), whisking all the time.  Adjust the seasoning, adding pepper if you wish.  The bread can either be grilled, placed in warm soup bowls and the soup ladled over, or torn into chunks and stirred into the thickened soup -- in which case you might whisk the soup into the egg in a warmed tureen, dispensing with the jug.

My Notes

I had some whole wheat bagels, which I cut in half and let sit on the counter for a few hours.  I turned them once to make sure both sides were drying out a little.

I used 5 cloves of garlic, which I crushed with the flat end of my big pestle.  I also chose to use just the bay leaf, and I put in 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Water, not yet boiled

While the broth was simmering, I noticed a funny popping noise, which I thought was the garlic.  

Once the broth was ready, I strained it into a quart measuring cup that had the beaten egg yolk in it.  I poured in a little broth, whisked, added more broth, whisked more, etc. until all the broth was mixed into the egg yolk.

Water, boiled

With egg yolk beaten in

When I tasted the broth to adjust the seasoning, I noticed it was lightly garlicky, subtly bay, and needed more salt (1/2 teaspoon did the trick) and some pepper (1/4 teaspoon).  That gave a nice balance to the delicate flavor of the broth.

The broth had a chance to infuse the pepper while the bagels were prepared.

Two bagel halves went under the broiler until they were golden brown.  I placed them each in a bowl and poured the broth over the top.  I put in enough broth to barely float the bread.

The Verdict

The bagels quickly soaked up the broth and became soft.  I used my knife and fork to cut them into bite-sized pieces, and then used my spoon to eat the soup-with-bread.

I had broth left over when I ate all the bread, so I broke up the other half of a bagel (that had been toasted) and ate the rest of the soup with that.  It was interesting to note that the toasted bagel didn't absorb the soup as quickly as the broiled bagel, and I liked the bit of crunch I got from that.

My guest taster and I both liked what we ate.  We agreed it wasn't hearty enough to be a main dish (although I did serve it that way, with some mashed sweet potatoes that had sauteed apples and onions mixed in), but we thought it would make a good first course soup.

The broth was delicately flavored and the bread gave it some body.  Broth + bread was a good combination!  The whole wheat made it more like a "peasant" soup and I liked that very much.  I was surprised at how much of the garlic and bay flavors came through from just 15 minutes of simmering and it was just right because it wasn't overwhelming.  

Success!  I would consider doing it again, but as a side dish or first course.  The vegetarians would like this, and they could skip the egg yolk.  The yolk made the broth yellow; without it, it would look more like boiled water.

I think I would like to spruce up the look of the served soup with some sort of garnish.  Perhaps a bit of chopped parsley or thinly sliced green onions would be nice on top.  

And there you have it:  boiled water soup!

Native American Salmon Chowder

Okay, I'll admit it.  I have a cookbook addiction.  There!  I said it!  A friend was telling me about a neat book she wanted to get and, while I was looking for it online, I found several other interesting books, too.  One of them was The Spirit of the Harvest, North American Indian Cooking, by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs.

ISBN 1-55670-186-1

I typically shy away from these sorts of books because they usually present modern recipes that are somewhat like what the mentioned culture might have done.  When I see recipes that include the trendy ingredient-of-the-day, (applewood smoked bacon, Greek yogurt, acai berries, etc.) then I put the book down and walk away.

This book promised "authentic recipes, glorious photographs, and an informative text".  In fact, it says on the inside cover,

A specially created map places the tribes and their principal foods in geographical context.  Each chapter is introduced by an expert on the Indians of the region, and discusses the cultures of major tribal groups, their diets, their ceremonial use of food, and the historical dishes they developed.

Two recipes caught my attention.  The first is from the Northwest region of North America:  The coast from Alaska down to northern California.  This is the land of the salmon!  I chose:

Pacific Salmon Chowder  (pg 205)

1 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil
4 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup green onions, sliced
1/4 teaspoon dill seed
6 cups milk
1 pound fresh salmon, cut into chunks
Salt and pepper to taste
Dill sprigs, for garnish




Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add potatoes, green onions, and dill seed, and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.  Add milk and simmer over low heat for 40 minutes.  Add fresh salmon and simmer for 10 minutes more.  Season with salt and pepper.  Garnish individual servings with dill sprigs.  Serves 6 to 8.

My Notes

I used 1% milk; it may be the authors expected whole milk.  The amount of salmon I had was a little under a pound.  I cut it into small, bite-sized chunks.



Instead of butter, I used olive oil.

Potatoes and green onions.

The simmering of the potatoes in the milk was not really what I call a simmer.  That implies a very slow boil and I never let the milk even start bubbling.  But it did get steaming hot with tiny bubbles around the edges, and that was enough to cook the potatoes through in the 40 minutes and the salmon in the extra 10 minutes.  It is a very gentle way to cook salmon, which did not get dry or overcooked.

Tiny bubbles!

The Verdict

I served the chowder with grapes and Chippewa Bannock bread, a feature for the next post.  I had salted the chowder before serving and it tasted right but after it cooled in my bowl a little, I felt that it needed a lot more salt.  My guest tasters agreed.

With dill weed as a garnish.

Success!  My mouth wants thick soups and chowders and this was not thick, making me wish I had crushed some of the potatoes before adding the salmon.  But it was a good soup, full of salmon flavor.  The dill seed was very subtle and the potatoes and green onions give it interest.  I would do it again but I would make sure I had the full pound of salmon or more just so that each bite had more salmon as compared to potato.

Potato Soup from the 1950s

I was fortunate to inherit my grandmother's copy of Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book.  I think it is a second edition but I can't tell because some of the front pages are missing.  I know it is not the first edition because I purchased a replica reprint on its 50th anniversary, in 2000.

The two editions look about the same (the picture is of my grandmother's book) but the first edition has an alphabetical index by chapter and my grandmother's book has a standard index.  I find the standard index much more convenient; I can look up all recipes for say, potatoes, at once instead of having to check each chapter.

Speaking of which, I had a bag of potatoes in my pantry that needed to be used.  This, my friends, is how women used to cook all the time -- What do I have and how can I use it?  What is in season?  There was not a lot of running to the store to get the latest trendy ingredient or deciding what to cook based on how you felt on the spur of the moment.  So in this spirit, I decided to try Betty C's simple recipe for potato soup (it being a wet and blustery day).

****

Potato Soup (page 371)

"The homey, old-fashioned kind."

Saute' gently in 2 tbsp. butter...

   1 tbsp. grated carrot
   1 tbsp. scraped onion

Stir in ...
   1 tsp. salt
   1/4 tsp. celery salt
   1/8 tsp. pepper
   2 cups hot milk
  1 cup mashed or boiled potatoes put through a coarse sieve

Cook 20 min., stirring occasionally.

Amount:  6 servings.

*****

I used the fine holes on the grater for the carrots and, instead of scraping the onion (which I find messy), I finely chopped them.  It seemed like a lot of butter for my tastes but, when I considered that I'd be using non-fat milk, I was fine with it.

I boiled the potatoes unpeeled for about 20 minutes, until they were tender all the way through.  I pierced them with a cooking fork to check.  They were drained and cooled for a while and then I peeled them.

The recipe called for 1 cup of mashed potatoes.  I cooked four potatoes knowing that it was too much.  No problem!  I can always use the remainder for some other dish, like a gratin. I ended up using two. (They were all pretty small potatoes.)

I admit to not using a sieve but I stirred it for awhile to break up the potato bits.  When I cooked it for 20 minutes, I kept the fire as low as possible and stirred it more often once the soup started steaming.  This got the soup nice and hot and also blended the flavors.

The Verdict:  Yum!  It smelled good, making me want to taste it.  It was interesting to look at, with the carrot and onion bits, the pepper, the small lumps of potato, and the butter floating on top.  It was tasty and a little bit creamy -- would be more so if I had used whole milk as they would have in the '50s, I think.  I'm not a fan of celery salt but I used it anyway and was pleasantly surprised at the flavor.  I think it is just right.

By the way, "6 servings" would work if this was a soup course before a bigger meal.  I don't think I would get more than 2 servings if soup was the main focus of the meal.  If you like chunky potato soup, you could use some of the extra cooked potato, cut into small dice, to make it that way.  I think it would also be good with some cheddar cheese melted into it. I had it "as is" for lunch with some saltine crackers and a sliced apple.