Soups

The Christmas Soup

This is a variation of a traditional Czech Christmas Soup. Usually they make a fish broth for Christmas, which I find a bit weird (I can handle a chopped chicken floating around in a pot, but somehow not a chopped fish head). But this is a creamy version, with extra tanginess from the Sauerkraut, I absolutely love. It is an adapted version of a recipe given to me by a Czech mother, who put her heart and soul into cooking. All her good tasted like someone giving your stomach a huge hug — I hope you will enjoy this recipe. 🙂
*picture courtesy of resh.iprima.cz (I need to take a picture this Christmas 🙂 )
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 500 g Sauerkraut, drained, rinsed
  • 5 Potatoes, cut into small cubes
  • 200 g Dried Mushrooms ("Steinpilze"), chopped
  • 1 Large onion, chopped finely
  • 200 g Mushrooms, chopped
  • 250 g Salmon
  • 250 g Scallops
  • 250 g Other white fish
  • 1 l buillon
  • 2 cups Heavy cream
  • 5 tbsp Butter
  • 2 Bay leaves
  • 4 pieces All spice
  • 1 tbsp Parsley
  • 4 pieces Pepper

Instructions
 

  • Cook everything except the fish and cream slowly, about one hour.
  • After one hour, In a small frying pan, melt butter about 4 tablespoons, and add sliced scallops, sauté only briefly, because it is easy to overcook it and then it becomes gummy. If you can’t get scallops, any mild fish or fish inards will do, just chop small pieces and sauté it in the butter briefly, adding ground pepper and then add to the soup.
  • Remove the bay leaf and the all spice as you find them. Bring the whole pot to boil, and slowly add cream while stirring, cook 1 minute and pull off the heat. You can use evaporated milk instead of cream, less fatty and less chance that it would curdle.
  • Season with ground pepper and salt if needed. The soup is best made ahead even few hours, so that the flavors can develop. 

The Salmorejo

An amazing Andalusian cold soup, which will bring summer and sun feeling right to your home. Top it with eggs, Jamón and crackers, and it can be a main dish, since it is quite filling. Read the story of how I found this soup here.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 15 mins

Ingredients
  

  • 1 baguette should be 1 day old
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 10 medium tomatoes
  • 1/2 clove garlic
  • 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 hardboiled egg
  • ham best Spanish Jamón Ibérico or Serrano

Instructions
 

  • Start by washing your tomatoes and cutting small crosses into the skin, which will make it easier to peel later on.
  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, place the tomatoes inside for around 50 seconds. Then, remove them, and place in a cold water bath.
  • After the water bath, it should be easy to peel the tomatoes. Cut out the cores, removing all the seeds and place them in a blender.
  • Blend them for about 20-30 seconds, until there are no more chunks.
  • Take all of the "inside" of the baguette (no crust) and add them to the blended tomatoes. How much you add will strongly depend on your taste, I usually add all, which gives about 2-3 cups. Let the bread soak in the tomato juice for about 5 minutes.
  • Add the vinegar, pinch of salt, and garlic and blend until there are no more chunks and the texture is smooth. It might take a few minutes.
  • Now comes the fun part! Add the oil, little by little. Either by opening the small hole on top, if your blender has that, or by stopping and adding 1/4 at a time.
  • You should see the color of your soup changing from a beigish-orange to a brighter, beautiful orange.
  • And it should be pretty thick.
  • Now you need to be VERY patient, because this absolutely needs to be eaten cold. Put it in the fridge for at least one hour.
    To serve: place in a bowl with 1 chopped, hardboiled egg and sliced ham. Cry with delight and solomny vow to make it on a regular basis.