Sour What?

So you were given a bag of some leaves and told it was sorrel. It sounds like some kind of exercise injury, as in, "Oh, I overdid it at the gym and now I have a sore el." It looks like the rough cousin of baby lettuce. It smells a little lemony and it tastes crisp and pungent. What now?

You can make it into soup: the French do it (and purists insist that only French sorrel can be used for a proper sorrel soup.) The Russians do it, calling it schav or sour grass soup and serve it cold with a dollop of sour cream. The Poles do it and call it szczaw, also sour grass soup, and serve it hot. Usually around Passover you can find jars of schav on the grocery store shelves - in the bottle it looks like a slightly green broth with shredded grass in it and tastes like a sour spinach soup. A good sorrel soup is something uplifting, though. Here is a very quick, very simple, very summery sorrel soup recipe. Call it what you like and watch your guests slurp it up quickly.

Sorrel Soup, Schav, Szczaw, or Sour Grass Soup

2 cups fresh sorrel leaves
2 Tbs butter
6 cups water or broth
1 clove finely sliced garlic
1/4 cup dryish white wine
kosher salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper
(optional, 2 Tbs quick cooking oats)
a warm crusty loaf of fine bread

*a note about these ingredients:
Since this soup is very simple and relies on the pure flavors of each item to shine this is one case when you want to use the freshest ingredients possible. Use only really fresh butter - not butter that has taken on that "fridge odor." Use fresh tender sorrel. Use a fresh garlic clove that has not sprouted. If you use broth use actual stock, not overly salted canned broth or bouillon cubes. Use only kosher salt, it is easier to control quantity and is cleaner. As for the wine, you can use a cheaper wine or one that has been open for a while but you are going to taste it in the soup. So if you don't like the wine to drink, don't put it in your soup.

Melt the butter over medium heat in the bottom of your soup pot. Add the garlic and stir until aromatic - do not brown. Chiffonade the sorrel (stack the leaves and roll into a little cigar then cut into thin slices) and add to the garlic and butter. Cook for a couple minutes until sorrel begins to wilt. Add water or broth and wine. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, sorrel and garlic should be soft. Taste and season with salt and pepper. This soup will be very thin and brothy. If you'd like it thicker, stir in the oats after simmering 10 minutes and simmer another 10-20. Then season as above. Serve warm with the bread. Pull chunks off the bread to dip into the soup.

There are many other options for using your fresh sorrel. Make a green sauce to serve atop your fresh grilled fish. Lightly saute it with baby zucchini slices, fresh from the garden. Chop it and mix it into soaked bulgar with red onion, green peppers, and feta for a hearty salad. Simmer it into a tomato sauce with capers to serve over a vegetable frittata. You can even use it as an interesting flavoring element for a baked custard. Get creative, get cooking, and get sour with your sorrel.