Zupa ogorkowa – Pickle soup

Ingredients

2 liters of cold water

5-6 chicken legs

½ of celery root along with green top leaves (halved)

4-5 medium sized fresh carrots

1 parsley root

4-5 large potatoes

* (small leek – optional)

1 small jar of puree of pickles (approx. 11.99 oz – 340 g)

1 tb of butter or margarine

1 tb of all-purpose flour

1 tb of sour cream

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

Chopped dill leaves

1. Prepare soup base first. Don’t use ready-made packaged broths available in stores. A good aromatic soup base is half of the success for a tasty pickle soup.

2. Put the meat in a large soup pot, and cover with 2 liters of cold water. Bring water to the boil. In the meantime remove the skim that will appear on the broth surface while it is being cooked. After 20 mins. add all the veggies, chopped parsley leaves, and chicken legs, salt & pepper, bay leaf. Let it boil for additional 20 minutes.

3. Now it’s time to prepare our puree of pickles. Fry the puree on a one tb of butter, and transfer to the soup pot. Give soup a stir. Let it cook for a few minutes. When all the veggies are soft, take out half of all the veggies, (including celery and parsley root, parsley & celery leaves), and transfer them to a kitchen blender along with a cup of broth, one tb of all purpose flour, one tb of sour cream. Mix all those ingredients, and transfer them back to a soup pot. This will help thicken up the soup a bit. Cook for a few minutes.

4. When the soup is done, add dill for decorating.

TIPS:

I’d be careful with adding salt. The puree of pickles is already salty. It’s always better to add salt at the very end once you add the puree to your soup.
Instead of buying puree of pickles you can use Polish dill pickles, about 12 ounces (340g), and purée them in a food processor.
Some people like adding additional dill pickle juice to taste to enrich the soup, but I think it’s optional.
Where to buy puree of pickles?

Available here: http://www.amazon.com/Cracovia-Cucumber-Puree/dp/B00DP05EVC/ref=sr_1_26?m=A3UB49WN9NEVVQ&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1396306549&sr=1-26

Fish a la Greek (Ryba po grecku)

Ingredients:

600 grams of white fish (I used tilapia fillets)\
3-4 large carrots
1 small celery root
1 large parsley root
1 large onion
A can of tomato paste (6 oz)
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
1 tb of sweet paprika spice
2 tb of Heinz tomato original ketchup
1/2 of lemon
1-2 tb of olive oil for frying

(Optional: a slice of lemon for decoration and fresh parsley leaves - finely chopped)

Cut fish fillets into smaller pieces, sprinkle them with onion juice, and leave for half an hour. Peel off all your vegetables. Grate them and set aside. Chop onion into bigger chunks, and fry it until golden brown.(Do not burn it as it will be bitter in taste). Transfer the onion and veggies to a bigger pot, add the bay leaves, pepper, salt and paprika spice. Pour 1 cup of hot water,cover the pot with a lid. Then add tomato paste, bring to boil, and give the mixture a stir. Simmer for about 40 minutes until the veggies are tender and most of the liquid has evaporated.

In the meantime, put fish pieces on a baking tray (I've used a ceramic one, smeared it with a few drops of olive oil). Cover the tray with aluminum foil and put into the oven preheated to 180 C degrees and bake for about 20 minutes, (remember to get rid of the aluminum foil that you put on top of the tray after 10 minutes, leave the tray uncovered, and continue baking).

TIP: Put a piece of parchment paper on your baking tray to prevent the fish pieces from sticking to the tray.

In a glass bowl or a casserole pot place a layer of hot veggies, then put pieces of baked fish on top of it and cover with the remaining vegetable mixture. Decorate with lemon slices and chopped parsley leaves.

Serve with rice and your favorite salad