Friday, November 18, 2005

Hal's mom calls it skaubenites; my family simply called it cha. Whatever one calls it, it's tangy-tasty and grows like a weed.



Had a bumpercrop this year of both the wild and the cultivated varieties. Since I'm a firm believer in waste-not-want-not, I've been trying (with no success so far) to find a way to preserve the rest of seemingly undending supply.

If anyone has any suggestions on this, I'd really appreciate hearing them. For the moment, I'm eating as much in salads and soup as possible. I've also been bringing friends and coworkers bunches accompanied by this recipe:

Sorrel Soup

1 bunch sorrel (about 2 cups shredded)
1 small onion
1-2 cloves garlic (depending on taste)
1-2 stalks celery, diced
2-3 T butter (I use Smart Balance - works perfectly fine)
2T flour
3/4 c milk (I use 1% -a little fat, but not too much)
3-4 c chicken broth (or so)

Saute the onion, garlic, celery in a bit of the butter. When all this is transparent, add the sorrel. When sorrel cooks down, add remaining bit of butter along with flour to make a roux. When the roux get a little beige-y, start gradually adding milk. Be sure to keep stirring this so you don't end up with lumps! To this mixture, add the chicken broth until the soup reaches desired thickness*. If you have some spare herbs straggling around, add them if you'd like**. Simmer on low (low!) flame for another 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly, until soup's heated through.

Makes 4-5 cups.

*I usually eyeball it. In the spring/summer, I add more broth as I want a lighter soup. The current version's been thicker, almost like a potato leek soup.

**Last night's soup had some thyme, tarragon and oregano from the garden.

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