I Am Delicious

Lentil Soup

One of my favorite soups. Takes less than one hour and this delicious dish will steal hearts of your loved ones. Thick, flavorful lentil soup is full of nutrition. Healthy and rich of proteins. Lentils are originated in central Asia. They were found in the tombs of the Ancient Egyptians in 2400 BC. They come in all shapes and colors - can be brown, green, yellow, red or black. Lentils are Lentils are low in fat, high in protein, folate, phosphorus, fiber and iron. They are very easy to cook and don’t need soaking like dried beans. In less than 40 minutes they will be all soft and ready to eat.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 finely chopped carrots
• 2 chopped leeks
• 1/2 finely chopped celery root
• 2 parsley roots - sliced
• 250 - 300 g dried lentils
• 1 chilli pepper - finely sliced
• 250 ml natural yoghurt
• 1 l chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground toasted cumin
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 300 g finaly chopped sausage - I use a smoked sausage.
• 1/2 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1/ 2 tsp dried sage
• freshly chopped parsley to garnish 

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Once hot, add the onion, carrot, sausage, celery, parsley roots, chopped leeks, salt and pepper. Cook until the onions are translucent, approx. 5 minutes.

2. Add the lentils, broth and all the spices. Stir well to combine. Increase the heat to high and bring just to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook at a low simmer until the lentils are tender, approx. 30 minutes. Remember to add fresh water to keep lentils covered and stir from time to time. 

3. Add yoghurt previously mixed with a bit of hot soup. Stir well and cook all together for another 10 minutes.

4. Serve garnished with fresh chopped parsley.

ENJOY!!! 

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Healthy Christmas Fish Soup

One of my favorite dishes. Original Christmas fish soup is made from fresh carp. However, you can use any fresh fish you like or you can buy in a grocery store like cod, halibut, sole, sea bass. Carp are various species of freshwater fish, native in Europe and Asia. Delicious and warming up in cold autumn or winter days. Easy to make and takes just a little to prepare this delicious soup. Healthy and reach of proteins. 

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 kg fresh fish like cod, carp, sole, sea bass or any you like
• 3 carrots - sliced
• 3 large onions - sliced
• 2 finely chopped leeks
• 2 parsley roots - sliced
• 1/3 celery root (celeriac) - finely chopped
• 3 tomatoes - chopped
• 250 ml sour cream (18%)
• 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp sweet pepper
• dried thyme
• dried oregano
• dried sage
• dried fennel seeds
• 3-4 Tbsp butter
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• freshly chopped dill to garnish 

Method:

1. Clean and prepare your chosen fish. Cut fish into large chunks. Best fish soups are the ones where you use all the fish parts like bones and head. Later on we will filter the soup so don't be afraid of bones.

2. Simmer your fish and all the vegetables with salt and pepper slowly in 2 l of water for about 30 minutes. 

3. After 30 minutes, we have to filter the soup and cut fish into smaller pieces removing all the bones. Add chopped fish meat into filtered soup. Add all the spices.

4. Thicken with a mixture of butter and flour. Melt butter on medium-low heat and add flour. Stir well. Cook for 3 minutes, then move the flour butter mixture into filtered soup. Stir well.

5. Add sour cream previously mixed with a bit of hot soup. Stir well and cook all together for another 10-15 minutes.

6. Serve garnished with fresh chopped dill.

ENJOY!!! 

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Christmas Beetroot Soup - Traditional Polish 'Czerwony barszczyk na zakwasie'

Beetroot Soup is another traditional Polish dish. This soup is served in most Polish houses on Christmas Eve dinner (December 24th) after the first star can be seen on the sky... My version of beetroot soup has to be started about 5 days before serving. In traditional version you have to prepare your own leaven (starter dough). Just give it a try and you will love beetroot soup.

Prep Time: 30 minutes   

Wait Time: 5 days                                

Cook Time: 130 minutes

Ingredients:                                       

• 1.5 kg fresh beetroots for main soup
• 3 kg beetroots for leaven
• 4-5 cloves of garlic - sliced
• skin of brown loaf
• 4 big onions 
• 40 g dried mushrooms
• 100 g dried plums
• 250 ml dry red wine
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1Tbsp sugar
• 3 Tbsp marjoram
• 10 pimentos
• 7 bay leaf
• 2 Tbsp salt
• sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to season
• fresh parsley to decorate

Method: 

1. You need to start preparing your beetroot soup about 5 days before serving. First we need to prepare beetroot leaven and leave it aside for 5 days. 

2. To prepare beetroot leaven you need to add 2 Tbsp of salt into 1 liter of warm water in large glass bowl. Remove the skin from 3 kg of fresh beetroots and cut them into slices. Pour salty water into beetroot slices, add garlic, brown loaf skin and 2 sliced onions. Water should cover the beetroots. Cover the glass bowl with kitchen towel and leave aside for 5 days in a warm place.

3. After 5 days, filter the juice from beetroots.

4. Pour hot water into the mashrooms and leave for 10 minutes.

5. Wash under hot water 1 kg of beetroots and boil for 40 minutes in hot water with some salt.

6. Cut 2 onions into quarters and put into a large pot of 2 liters of water. Add dried plums. Add mushrooms together with their juice. Mix well and cook approx. 1 hour.

7. Now ready beetroots cut into small pieces and add into onion, plums and mushrooms soup. Add beetroot leaven, bay leaf, pimientos, marjoram, sugar, lemon juice, ground black pepper and salt. Cook for approx. 30 minutes on low-medium heat.

8. When your soup finally has nice dark red color, add red wine and we are ready to filter the soup. Separate the vegetables from the bullion, add some pepper and salt for a better taste and your soup is ready to serve. 

9. You can decorate with fresh parsley.

In Poland this soup can be also served with 'uszka'. These are small dumplings with a shape of an ear (thus the name) stuffed with sauerkraut and mashrooms. I love to serve it also with special little pies stuffed with sauerkraut and mushrooms. I will tell you how to prepare those at home - they are simply Delicious.

ENJOY!!!

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Traditional Onion Soup under Gruyere Pillow

It is another typical farmer soup. We prepare it quite a lot in my family, especially on cool autumn evenings. Soup tastes delicious and is full of vitamines. It's rich and creamy with a mild onion-Gruyere cheese flavor. Easy to make and takes just a little to prepare this delicious soup.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 600 g  onion - cut in quarters
• 1005 g butter
• 1 l home made beef stock
• 1 tsp cumin
• 100 g Gruyere cheese - freshly grated
• 3 Tbsp all purpose flour
• a few slices of baguette (a long thin loaf of French bread)
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 Tbsp 18% sour cream

Method:

1. Melt the butter on a large skillet and when it foams add onion. Keep stirring for about 10 minutes. 

2. Add sea salt and pepper to the onion. Stir well and cover with the lid. If needed you can add a bit more of butter. 

3. In a separate large pot, prepare a beef stock and bring it to boil.

4. Add all-purpose flour to the onion and stir well. Now you need to move the onion into the stock and cook for another 25 minutes. Add cumin and sour cream.

5. Move the soup to the blender or food processor and blend well. Once blended add pepper and salt for a good taste.

6. Pre-heat the oven to 190 C. Pour the soup into bowls. On the top of each bowl put slices of baguette and cover it with grated Gryuere cheese.

7. Insert ready soup bowls into the oven and cook for 10 minutes until cheese on the top of each melts nicely creating a nice pillow.

8. Serve hot immediately.

ENJOY!!! 

Potato Cream Soup with Bacon

It is typical farmer soup. Delicious and warming up in cold autumn or winter days. Easy to make and takes just a little to prepare this delicious soup. Healthy and reach of proteins. 

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion - chopped
• 1 large red onion - chopped
• 2 finely chopped leeks
• 2 finely chopped carrots
• 75 g butter
• 700 g potatoes - peeled and finely diced
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 l home made chicken or vegetable stock
• 200 ml 18% sour cream
• freshly chopped parsley to garnish
• 250 g smoked bacon - chopped
• 4-5 pinch  dried marjoram 

Method:

1. Melt the butter on a large skillet and when it foams add chopped onion and leeks. Keep stirring.

2. Add sea salt and pepper to the onion. Stir well and cover with the lid. If needed you can add a bit more of butter. Cook for approx. 10 minutes. 

3. In a separate large skillet fry chopped bacon for 5 minutes.

4. In the meantime, bring the stock to boil. Add potatoes and carrots to the stock and cook for another 15 minutes until vegetables turn soft. At the end add onion and leeks.

5. Add sour cream and marjoram. Stir well. Move the soup to the blender or food processor and blend well. Once blended add pepper and salt for a good taste and finally move bacon to the soup.

6. Serve garnished with fresh parsley.

ENJOY!!! 

Sautéed Scallops with Leek & Tomato

Did you know that the French word for the king scallop is coquille St Jacques (shell of St James). This is also the name given to a famous recipe for scallops served on a shell in a creamy wine sauce. Each ring on a scallop’s shell represents a year of growth but might also be a record of a stressful incident in the scallop’s life. Unlike the mussel and the oyster, the scallop cannot close and seal its shell completely and so can only survive in the deeper, full salinity sea water. Scallops have about 60 eyes that line its mantle. These eyes may be a brilliant blue color, and allow the scallop to detect light, dark and motion. Scallops swim by opening and closing their shells using their powerful adductor muscle. This muscle is the round, fleshy "scallop" that we eat. Try our recipe of sauteed scallops and you will see how tender and delicious they migfht be. Enjoy!!!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:                                       

• 400 - 500 g scallops 
• 3-4 finely sliced garlic cloves
• 2 leeks finely sliced 
• 2 onions finely sliced
• 2 carrots coarsley grated
• 1 parsley root coarsley grated
• 2-3 Tbsp butter
• 500 ml fresh tomato sauce with chopped tomatoes
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 4-5 Tbsp olive oil 
• freshly ground black, red and white pepper
• sea salt

Method:

1. Fry the scallops on the olive oil in the heavy skillet for about 2-3 minutes each side until golden.

2. Leek, onion, garlic, carrot and parsley root fry on medium-low heat in the butter.

3. Move vegetables into a big pot. Add chopped tomatoes and white wine. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Keep cooking for another 5 minutes on a medium-high heat. 

4. Next we will mix vegetables and tomato- white wine sauce in a blender.

5. Serve hot immediately with scallops added to the soup.

ENJOY!!!

  

 

Yummy Chicken in Tomato and Olives Soup

Another rich tomato soup that tastes delicious. This time we add cooked chicken breast to the soup that can be asily served for nutritious warming lunch or lighter dinner. Again, takes very little to prepare it. 

And no need to mention that we add a lot of basil leaves to the soup. Of course you can decide how much you want. I love it so probably sometimes I might be adding a bit too much. A few interesting facts about basil I found. Basil is one of the most popular herbs around the globe, with its flavor and fragrance exciting many cuisines from Italy, Greece, Spain to Malaysia and India. Ancient Civilization has also been using this herb for thousands of years. Basil plant originates from Central Asia and Africa. Thai Basil's name means "Won't be exchanged even with gold" in Chinese. It was used as a token of love in some parts of Italy and is a sacred plant in the Hindu religion. Basil leaves preserved in olive oil and can be kept up to 6 months. The flavored oil is excellent for pasta and salad dressing. Enjoy!!!

Prep Time: 5 minutes                                    

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:                                       

• 3 cans chopped tomatoes (approx. 900 g)
• 3-4 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 red or white onions - in slices
• 4 garlic cloves - finely sliced 
• 25 g fresh basil leaves plus a few to garnish
• 140 g black and green olives - finely sliced
• 60 g capers
• 450 g cooked chicken breast or turkey in cubes
• sea salt & freshly ground black and white pepper
• 100 g crusty bread to garnish

Method: 

1. Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-low heat. Add onion, garlic and basil leaves and saute for 3-4 minutes until they turn soft.  

2. Now heat chopped tomatoes in a separate pot and add onion, garlic and basil leaves. Season with salt and pepper for a good taste. Bring to boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes. Make sure you stir from time to time.

3. Add sliced olives, capers and cooked chicken (turkey) breast to the soup. I cook chicken in boiling water untill cooked with a bit of salt and olive oil for a better taste. Keep simmering for another 3-4 minutes.

4. Scatter with remaining whole basil leaves and decorate with crusty bread on the top. Serve immediately and warm.

ENJOY!!!

Classic Tuscan Tomato Soup with Mullet Fillet

Rich tomato soup that tastes delicious. I love to serve it with mullet fish fillet - simply grilled and served in the soup. Takes very little to prepare it. No meat, just fish, so perfect option for vegetarians.

Classic Tuscan Tomato Soup has its origins in Italy and is called pappa al pomodoro. Acidic and full of aromas tomatoes are combined with onions, garlic and basil, thickened with toasted bread and finished off with freshly hashed basil leaves and like I do served with the mullet fillet on the top. Check it out, it smells heavenly and tastes even better. 

Prep Time: 5 minutes                                    

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:                                       

• 2 cans chopped tomatoes with basil and oregano or with galic (900 g)
• olive oil
• 1 big red onion - in slices
• 3 garlic cloves - crushed 
• 4 slices of toasted pita bread
• 2 mullet fillets
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 3 Tbsp of fresh hashed basil leaves
• sea salt & freshly ground black and white pepper
• freshly hashed basil leaves to garnish

Method: 

1. Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-low heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for 2 minutes until both turn translucent.  

2. Add chopped tomatoes, sea salt, oregano, chopped basil and pepper and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Make sure you stir from time to time. 

3. Add toasted pita bread into the soup and using a blender mix all ingredients well.

4. Season with freshly ground black and white pepper and garnish with finely chopped basil leaves. Serve hot with grilled on olive oil mullet fillet on the top. 

ENJOY!!!

Broccoli Cream Soup (in Polish: Zupa krem z brokulow)

You will see how easy to make that soup is. It is unbelievable but it takes only 15 minutes to prepare. Broccoli is a source of proteins, vitamins and low calories too. Great option for vegetarian light lunch or just a starter. I love it for its simplicity and delicious taste. Just try it and am sure you will love it too!!!  

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:                                       

• 8 cups of broccoli florets
• water to cook broccoli
• 3-4 slices of goat smoked cheese or 2 Tbsp of grated mozzarella cheese
• 2 Tbsp extra-vergin olive oil
• freshly ground black, red and white pepper
• sea salt and nutmeg for taste

Method:

1. Bring water to boil in large stock pot. Add some salt.

2. Add broccoli florets into the boiling water, season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cover with the lid immediately and boil rapidly for 5 minutes. 

3. Once your broccoli is ready, move it to the blender. Do not pour the broccoli water out because all the taste and vitamines are still there.

4. When your broccoli florets are already waiting in the blender, add broccoli water to fill the blender half way.

5. Blend well and season with salt, nutmeg and pepper if necessary. Broccoli will turn into a puree now.

6. Put 1-2 slices of smoked goat cheese on the bottom of a bawl or if you dont have a goat cheese you can also replace it with 1 Tbsp of gratted mozzarella cheese.

7. Pour your broccoli soup into the bowl and cover the cheese. Drizzle a bit with extra-virgin olive oil. Serve hot.

ENJOY!!! 

Delicious Tiger Shrimp Soup & Vegetable (in Polish: Pyszna zupa z krewetek z warzywami)

Delicious tiger shrimp soup with vegetables is a perfect option for a nice starter or light lunch. Did you know that those tiny shrimps can grow up to 25 cm, but of course most are much smaller. I used tiger shrimps here, a bit bigger than any other you can find in a grocery store. Remember that shrimps are very healthy and perfect for well balanced diet. Did you know that there are more than 2000 different species of shrimps all over the world? Vegetables with delicious tomato sauce are perfect mix when you add some coriander. Coriander gives a special smell and taste to the soup. And I absolutely love it. Enjoy!!!

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:                                       

• 400 - 500 g cooked, peeled and de-veined tail-on tiger shrimps 
• 500 ml vegetable broth
• 250 ml fresh tomato sauce with basil and oregano
• 300 g corn from the can
• 1 red pepper - de-seeded and diced
• 1 green pepper - de-seeded and diced
• 1 yellow pepper - de-seeded and diced
• 300 g red bean from the can
• 2 red onions - chopped
• 5-6 garlic cloves finely sliced
• 2-3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp tuscan herbs and lemon 
• juice of 1-2 freshly squeezed limes
• 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 6-8 cherry tomatoes in halves or quarters - I took red and yellow ones
• 1-2 Tbsp fresh coriander - hashed 
• freshly ground black, red and white pepper
• sea salt

Method:

1. Wash the shrimps and remove the shells.

2. Season the shrimps with tuscan herbs and lemon mill. Add fresh lime juice, freshly ground pepper, garlic and soy souce. Set aside for minimum 15 minutes.

3. Heat up the grill. Place your pre-cooked shrimps on slightly greased grill over medium-high heat, close the lid and grill for 3-4 minutes or until the shrimps have turned gold / pink, turning them once halfway through cooking time.

4. Now we will prepare the soup. In a large pot mix vegetable broth with corn, pepper, red bean, cherry tomatoes, onion, tomato sauce, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Cook for 10-15 minutes.

5. Add grilled shrimps and keep on low-medium heat for another 5 minutes. Season with freshly hashed coriander. Serve hot with dark full grain bread.

ENJOY!!! 

 

 

Summer Chicken Soup (in Polish: Letnia zupa warzywna z kurczakiem)

Summer chicken soup is a variation of Polish traditional chicken soup. Very quick to prepare and excellent for Sunday lunch like we used to have in Poland. Very light, full of vegetables and vitamines.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:                                       

• 3-4 chicken drumsticks 
• 1 green pepper - de-seeded and sliced
• 1 red pepper - de-seeded and sliced
• 1 yellow pepper - de-seeded and sliced
• 2 onions - chopped
• 2-3 celery stalks - chopped
• 2 Tbsp ginger finely sliced - can be also marinated ginger
• 1 leek - finely sliced
• 300 g runner bean - fresh (cut both ends of the bean)
• 300 g green peas - fresh
• 2-3 fresh potatoes
• 3 big tomatoes - chopped
• 2 carrots - chopped
• 8 Tbsp extra-vergin olive oil
• 2Tbsp thym
• 5-6 bay leaves
• freshly ground black, red and white pepper
• sea salt

Method:

1. Wash chicken drumsticks and put into boiling water with soma salt. Cook for about 25 minutes until meat turns tender. Then set aside to cool down. Keep the broth.

2. Pre-heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet and add onion, celery and ginger. Cook until onion turns gold. 

3. Shift the onion, celery and ginger into the broth left from the chicken. Add 1-2 glasses of water if necessary. Keep cooking on mid-low heat.

4. Add green, red and yellow pepper, runner bean, green peas, potatoes and carrot into the broth.

5. Keep cooking for about 20 minutes until vegetables start turning soft. Add bay leaves, thyme, freshly ground pepper and a bit of sea salt if necessary. 

6. At the end add finely sliced leek, chopped tomatoes and chicken meat removed from the bones. Cook for another 5 minutes. 

7. Remove bay leaves before serving. I use a special spices basket so your spices are not flying freely in the soup. Serve warm with a full grain bread.

ENJOY!!! 

Irish Beef and Vegetable Stew (in Polish: Irlandzki gulasz z wolowina i warzywami)

Beef loin is the most tender and expensive cur of beef. Beef and vegetable stew is another example of simply delicious dish you can prepare all by yourself. Takes a bit to cook well the beef until tender but the dish is very easy to prepare and full of colors. Another special thing about Beef Stew is that there is no salt added. My friends came to day to taste and they loved it!!! 

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:                                       

• 500 g beef loin - most tender part of beef
• 1 l homemade beef stock
• 1 green pepper - de-seeded and sliced
• 1 red pepper - de-seeded and sliced
• 2 red onions - sliced
• 1 Spanish onion - sliced
• 7-8 cloves of garlic - finely sliced
• 1 leek - finely sliced
• 150 g sweet green peas - fresh
• 400 ml fresh tomato and garlic sauce
• 8 Tbsp extra-vergin olive oil
• 5 Tbsp dark soya sauce 
• 250 ml red dry wine
• 1 Tbsp cumin
• 2Tbsp oregano
• 4 Tbsp meat herbs mix
• juice from one lemon
• freshly ground black, red and white pepper

Method:

1. Wash the beef and cut into small chunks.

2. Put beef into a separate dish and prepare marinade. Marinade will be made from lemon juice, red wine, pepper, cumin, oregano, meat herbs mix and soya sauce. Leave the beef to marinade for a few hours. The more the better. Usualy I leave it for entire night.   

3. Remove the seeds from the peppers and cut into slices.

4. Once beef is ready, place it to a pre-heated with olive oil pan on a medium heat. Cook beef for approx. 10 minutes.

5. In the meantime prepare beef stock - best would be home made. Add the beef and cook for another 15 minutes.

6. To the beef stock add onion, garlic, red and green pepper, leek and green peas. Keep cooking for another 20 minutes until both beef and vegetable turn tender. At the end add fresh tomato sauce and freshly ground pepper. Cook for 5 minutes and then put aside for a few minutes covered with a lid.

7. Serve warm with a full grain bread.

ENJOY!!! 

Split Pea Soup with Bacon (in Polish: Zupa grochowa na bekonie)

It is typical farmer soup. Excellent for cold days. Healthy and reach of proteins. Takes time to soak the split pea but you can simply leave it soak overnight. Split pea soup is warm and simply delicious.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 75 minutes

Ingredients:                                       

• 2 cups dried split peas
• 1 liter cold water
• 1 large onion - chopped
• 250 g smoked bacon
• 250 g smoked sausage
• 10 pimentos
• 5 bay leaves
• 4-5 pinch dried marjoram
• 6-7 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1.5 l vegetable stock
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Method:

1. Soak the peas in cold water for minimum 8 hours. Best and also time efficient is simply to leave it soak overnight.

2. Once peas are soaked, pour peas into a boiling vegetable stock in the large pot. Bring to boil but then reduce the heat to simmer, stirring from time to time for approx. 30 minutes. Skim the scum off the top of the soup for several minutes, until the scum ceases to rise.

3. Add pimentos, bay leaves and marjoram.

4. In the meantime, put bacon into a small pot with boiling water and cook for 20 minutes. Once ready, remove bacon and leave aside. Remaining water add to the boiling peas pot. Your soup will have a delicious bacon taste and smell. You will love it.

5. Put the olive oil in a large sauce pan and set on medium-high heat. Add chopped onion, diced cold bacon and smoked sausage. Fry all for 5 minutes until onion turns gold. Add sea salt and freshly ground pepper. 

6. Move onion, bacon and sausage into the large pot with peas. Cook and stir for another 20 minutes. Split peas should soften by that time.

7. Season with pepper and sea salt. Serve hot with a slice of crusty bread.

ENJOY!!! 

Italian Vegetable Soup (in Polish: Wloska zupa z warzywami)

I love that soup. It takes about 40 minutes to prepare and is full of vegetable and vitamines. Again, no meat so perfect for Vegetarians. 

Prep Time: 15 minutes                                    

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:                                       

• 3 big potatoes
• 400 g can white beans
• 6 baby leeks - finely chopped
• 3-4 garlic cloves - crushed
• 6-7 baby carrots - finely diced
• 1 big red pepper - finely diced
• 1 parsley root - finely diced
• 4-5 celery stalks - finely diced
• 1 l vegetable broth
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes with basil and oregano or with galic (900 g)
• 4-5 Tbsp small pasta shapes
• oregano
• sea salt & freshly ground b lack and white pepper
• fresh parsley to decorate

Method: 

1. Place carrot, parsley root, potatoes, galic, celery stalks and red pepper in a vegetable broth. Add sea salt, pepper and oregano. Cook for 10-15 minutes on medium-high heat until vegetables turn soft.

2. Add chopped tomatoes, white beans, pasta shapes and baby leeks. Cook for another 10-15 minutes. 

3. Season with freshly ground black and white pepper and finely chopped fresh parsley. Serve hot with a bread roll.

ENJOY!!!

Beetroot Soup (in Polish: Czerwony barszczyk - danie wigilijne)

Beetroot Soup is another traditional Polish dish. It is a soup which in particular is served on Christmas Eve dinner (December 24th) after the first star can be seen on the sky... 

Prep Time: 20 minutes                                    

Cook Time: 70 minutes

Ingredients:                                       

• 1 kg fresh beetroots
• bunch of soup vegetables like: 2 carrots, 1 parsley root, 5 potatos, small piece of celeriac, 1 smaller leek
• 2 onions
• 5 cloves of galic
• 1/2 glass mashroom boullion (broth)
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1tsp sugar
• 10 pimentos
• 4 bay leaf
• sea salt & freshly ground pepper
• fresh parsley to decorate

Method: 

1. Prepare all soup vegetables, cut into small pieces.

2. Add cut onion, bay leaf and pimientos.

3. Everything cook in 1.5 l of water. Add sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Cook approx. 40 minutes 0n low-medium heat until all vegetables are soft. 

4. Separate vegetables from the bullion. Add sliced beetroots into the bullion, garlic and mashroom broth. Cook approx. 30 minutes on medium heat until beetroot slices are soft. 

5. Separate soup from all the vegetables, add lemon juice, salt, fresh pepper and sugar.

6. You can decorate with fresh parsley.

In Poland this soup can be also served with 'uszka'. These are small dumplings with a shape of an ear (thus the name) stuffed with sauerkraut and mashrooms. In upcoming recipes I will tell you how to prepare those 'uszka' at home - they are simply Delicious.

ENJOY!!!