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Bar Tartine's Sauerkraut Soup (vegetarian)
This Slovakian sauerkraut soup is a traditional part of the Christmas meal at Bar Tartine's Nicolaus Balla's household, and it will now become a favourite in ours. This sauerkraut soup is tangy and rich in flavour, full of plump mushrooms and juicy strands of cabbage. Serve it on top of a mound of mashed potatoes for full effect.
Servings 8
Ingredients
- 2 liter vegetable broth
- 3 cups 415 g drained sauerkraut (you can make your own following my grandfather's recipe, or use store-bought)
- 1 cup 240 ml sauerkraut brine
- 8 oz/ 230 g button mushroom
- 4 green serrano chiles stemmed and thinls sliced
- 2 green bell peppers stemmed, seeded and diced
- 2 sweet white onions cut into large dice
- 2 oz 60 g apple wedges, pitted prunes, dried apricots or dried cherries, cut into bite-size pieces
- 8 oz 225 g russet potato, peeled and diced OR cooked and mashed into a puree and set aside
- 2 large tomatoes cored and diced, juice reserved
- 12 garlic cloves chopped
- 5 tablespoon hot paprika
- 10 dried chipotle or arbol chiles
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds toasted
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoon kosher salt
- sour cream for garnish - optional
- Freshly group black pepper
Instructions
- If you have chosen to serve the soup atop mashed potatoes, then cook and puree your potatoes using your favourite method. Otherwise, keep going with the recipe.
- In a large saucepan over medium high heat, combine broth, sauerkraut and brine, mushrooms, serranos, bell peppers, onions, fruit and potato and bring to a simmer. Cover and turn heat to med-low. Maintain a gentle simmer and cook gentle until potatoes are tender but firm, about 30 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, garlic, paprika, chipotles (if using), caraway seeds, bay leaves and salt and continue to simmer, uncovered, until the potatoes are just about to fall apart, about 20 minutes longer. Remove and discard the bay leaves.
- Ladle soup into individual bowls and garnish each bowl with pepper (and sour cream, if using).
- Leftover soup will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week.