Mushroom broth with sour gherkins
Ukrainian vegetarian soup
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 100 grams dried porcini or wild mushrooms
- 2 litres hot water
- 60 grams pearl barley or rice or buckwheat
- 2 onions, peeled keep one whole and dice the other finely
- 300 grams potatoes peeled and diced into 2cm cubes
- 150 grams gherkins in brine
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 carrot coarsely grated
- 1 parsnip peeled and coarsely grated
- 1/4 small celeriac peeled and coarsely grated
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 300-500 ml brine from the gherkin jar
- sea salt and black pepper
- rye bread, marjoram leaves, creme fraiche all optional
Instructions
- Soak the dried mushrooms in the 2 litres of hot water for half an hour.
- Cook the pearl barley in salted boiling water for 20 - 30 minutes until soft. If using rice or buckwheat these will cook more quickly. Drain and set aside.
- Drain the mushrooms, leaving behind any sandy residue. Reserve the liquid and pour it into a soup pot. Chop the mushrooms finely and add to the pot along with the whole onion. Season lightly. Cook for 10 minutes.
- Add the potatoes and cook for 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, slice half the gherkins and grate the other half.
- Heat butter and oil in a large pan over a medium heat and add the diced onion. Cook until transparent and softened. Add the carrot, parsnip and celeriac and cook for 5 minutes. Add some water if pan is too dry. Now add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Then add all the gherkins and the brine. Simmer for a minute.
- Add the contents of the frying pan to the mushroom broth in the soup pot along with the cooked pearl barley. Bring to the boil. Remove the whole onion.
- Serve with marjoram leaves (optional) and rye bread spread with creme fraiche.