Chłodnik, A Cold Soup

Chłodnik (pronounced Hwod-nyeek) means along the lines of "cooler" or "thing that cools you". Chłodny means cool (temperature wise) and adding the k at the end (which means you change the y into an i) turns the meaning of the word into a soup that cools you.

Think Gazpacho but with Polish ingredients and flavor. 

Yesterday, the temperatures climbed up into the 80s.  This entire week should have temperatures in the 70s and 80s, so it's time to pull out refreshing and nutritious recipes that can cool us off and keep us fueled for playing outside, such as this soup.

Chłodnik is such a simple dish that apart from the beet, there is no cooking.  It's perfect for days when you don't want to heat up the house or yourself in order to feed your family.

Chłodnik is full of flavors that represent the Polish Kuchnia (pronounced KooH-nyah and meaning kitchen) and cooking style.

One interesting thing to point out with this soup is that there are many varieties of it, depending on each family's recipe. 

A great many make this soup using the beet greens as well, finely shredded and blanched for about 3 minutes. 


Additional Options:

• Serve this soup with a dollop of sour cream on top
• Make this soup with more buttermilk if you like
• Add a bit of lemon juice if you want a more sour flavor, but it's not necessary.
• Use up the remaining canned beets from the year before in your pantry while you wait for your baby beets to be ripe enough in your garden, local farmers market or grocery store.
• Add good Polish dill pickles
• Add raw finely diced garlic cloves
• Substitute Kefir for the Buttermilk

My two children lap this soup up every time.  I tell them it's Pink Polish princess soup.  My Tato loves this soup for really hot days.  My American husband also really enjoys this soup, even though he thought I shouldn't make it because nobody would eat it, before he ate a very large soup of it in the blink of an eye.

Ingredients:

1-3 fresh Baby Beets
1-2 Pickling Cucumbers
4 Radishes
1/2 cup finely chopped Chives
1/4 cup fresh Dill, finely chopped
1 cups Buttermilk
Salt and Pepper, to taste
3-4 Boiled Eggs, to garnish

Optional:
good Polish Dill Pickles
Kefir
Sour Cream
Garlic, finely diced
Lemon Juice



Remove tops.  If using in soup, wash well, finely shred in 1 inch strips.  Place in almost boiling water for about 3 minutes and immediately place in an ice bath.  Drain and set aside in the large bowl which you will use to serve in.

Scrub and peel the baby beets.  Place in pot, cover with water and cook.  Make sure not to actually boil the water but rather keep it at the point when it's about to bubble.  Cook until completely tender.  You can actually do this part ahead of time in the morning when the outside temperature still is cool.

Using a grater, or with a knife, coarsely shred the beets, cucumbers and radishes.

Add everything to a serving bowl and stir. 

Garnish with sliced boiled eggs and some dill or chives on top, if you like.

Smacznego!

Polish Mama Nutrition:

Cucumbers are full of electrolytes to help replenish lost moisture in the heat.

Cucumbers are usually about 20 degrees cooler on the inside than the outside temperature.

Beets are said to potentially help fight cancer, heal nerve damage in diabetics, aid in detoxifying the body, protect against heart disease, birth defects, etc.

Beets are loaded with fiber.

All of these items added together with the other ingredients means that you are fueling your body with lots of nutrients and helping your body stay healthy. A healthy body can regulate it's core temperature better in almost any weather than an unhealthy body.

Related Posts:

Polish Cold Carrot Salad

Polish Strawberry Bread

Mushroom Soup With Letfovers From Thanksgiving

Every year for Thanksgiving, I make Busia's Mushrooms for my husband.  While living in Baltimore, I usually made about 15 pounds worth every year for about 8-12 people. 

This year in Illinois, I made 10 pounds for 5 people, two of whom are young children.  So, my husband has a larger amount of mushrooms for himself, which he gloats over and eats.

My Tato wanted to have some soup made with the mushrooms for himself and I thought to share the recipe.  It's extremely simple and still satisfying.



Ingredients:

2 cups of Busia's Mushrooms
16 oz. of Beef or Chicken Broth
pinch of Curly Parsley
Pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon of Vegeta, if you like
Sour Cream


In a food processor, add the Mushrooms and a bit of the broth.  Finely chop.

In a crock pot or small saucepan, add the chopped Mushrooms, all the remaining broth, the curly parsley, pepper and Vegeta.

Cook on low for a while until the flavors have developed.

Serve with a dollop or two of Sour Cream mixed in.

Smacznego!




Notes: 

You do not need Vegeta for this recipe, it's merely an ingredient my Tato grew up with and on occasion enjoys in his soups. 

If you find that the recipe could use a certain something instead, you could add a small bit of celery, carrot, garlic and onion into the food processor as well, enough to make no more than about a 1/4 cup total after being chopped.  You don't want the soup to be dominated by any added ingredients, just to help bring out the flavors of the Mushroom Soup.




Related Posts:

Barszcz Czerwony One Way

Mushroom Soup or Zupa Pieczarkowa

Our Date at a Local Polish Restaurant: Smak Tak

Polish Tomato Soup Made by My Tato

My Tato loves tomatoes.  He has about 7 different dishes that he makes just for himself out of tomatoes.  Of course, he is always delighted when someone wants to eat some of his tomato creations.

Because it is the end of the Tomato season for many of us, with frost already either having arrived or about to arrive across the Northern Hemisphere, this is a great time to use up the last of those shiny red beauties in a warm soup.

Ingredients:

1-2 tablespoons butter (or olive oil)

1/2 a Leek, carefully washed and sliced

2 ribs of celery, sliced

2 carrots, washed, peeled and sliced carrots

1 clove garlic, minced

6 cups chicken or vegetable broth

2-3 pounds peeled and chopped tomatoes

handful of fresh curly parsley, chopped

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon marjoram

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup cooked rice or uncooked pasta

Garnish with sour cream (optional)

 

In a large saucepan, saute leek, celery, carrots and garlic until leek is soft. Add stock, tomatoes, marjoram, bay leaf, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered 1 hour or until carrots are tender and tomatoes have "melted" and the broth has reduced a bit.

Add the pasta to cook or toss in the cooked rice.  You can serve with sour cream if you like but we just eat it as is.

Smacznego!

Note:  Before adding the pasta or rice, some people like to puree the soup, which you can do if you like.

I shared a photo of this recipe a couple of weeks ago when we were battling croup in the house.

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Photos of Some of Our Cooking Last Weekend

We are battling a nasty bout of croup at my house at this moment.  I hope you will forgive me as I will today just be sharing photos of some of the items I cooked here the past few days.  Recipes will be shared as we start feeling better.

"Glazed Porkloin", also known as Applesauce Pork Roast or Pieczony Schab

"Polish" Roasted Chicken stuffed and baked with potatoes and onions

The drumstick my 5 year old stole off the chicken before I could photograph it all together...

Cheese bread

Kuchen or Placek made with three different plum varieties and a new recipe I found in a handwriting I don't recognize...

Cheesecake stuffed Carrot cupcakes...

My Tati (Dad's) Polish Tomato Soup...

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have a wonderful week. 

Na razie...

Creamy Cauliflower Soup or Zupa Kalafiorowa

I will always remember the lesson I learned once from a chef who decided to give a few pointers to me when I first started cooking for others.  "There are two things which say how good a chef is.  Their eggs and their soups.  If you can't cook these two things, you just can't cook."  It's one of my life's goals to master as many ways to cook these two.

And because soups play such an important part in the Polish diet, I have many recipes and inspirations to draw from. 

Typically, soups in Poland are eaten before the meal and are very common place.  My father often requests that I make for him a soup of some kind and there are often times when we make soup together while spending time together.  As long as I remember, he and my mother have told my brother and I that eating soup before a meal is "good for the digestion".  It's a line I have also heard many times from my Dziadkowi (grandparents).

Children in preschools and in schools everywhere might eat soup as part of their lunches provided by the school or sent from home.  My older daughter has fond memories of her first trip to Poland being filled with such soups.  One of my cousin's mother-in-laws made a fantastic lunch for us all to share together one day before a trip to the local zoo.  We had freshly made Ruskie Pierogi and "Pickle Soup".

"Pickle Soup" is a phrase my older daughter had thought she had made up once as a two year old joking whether turkeys ate certain foods.  And every time I had told her, "You know, there is such a thing as Pickle Soup in Poland."  I had even made it for her a few times without telling her because she was convinced she would hate it since she hates pickles.  She always called it "Vegetable Soup" and gobbled it up.

So, the other day I made Zupa Kalafiorowa, a dish I had always loved.  Once again, my children gobbled it up.  I had made a very large pot of it and it was gone within two days. 

When I had told my father I made it, he came right over for dinner and was very pleased with it.  He even said it was just like his mother's, except that it is usually not made with dill.  But, I love dill and for me, dill celebrates Spring.  And since I am now living in a place that is two months slower in Spring's arrival than what I am used to, I have been using more dill to keep my spirits up.  So, contrary to the classic version of this soup, I added dill this time.  But the dish does not need it, so it is up to you.



Ingredients:

1 large head of Cauliflower, washed and cut into very small florets
Vegetable Broth
2-3 Carrots, washed, peeled and julienned
3-4 Potatoes, washed, peeled and finely diced
Salt and Pepper
1 Egg Yolk
Heavy Cream (or Sour Cream, if you need to substitute)
Dill and/or Curly Parsley, if you like



In a large pot, add the Cauliflower, Carrots and Potatoes.  Add enough Broth to cover the ingredients.  Bring to a boil, cover and lower heat to a simmer.  Allow to cook until all ingredients are soft. 

Add Salt and Pepper to taste.

Remove from heat.  Quickly mix in the egg yolk and enough Heavy Cream to lighten the soup and thicken a bit, perhaps about 1/2 cup.  Bring back to heat and allow to warm up but do not bring to a boil.

Serve with a garnish of Dill or Curly Parsley, if you like.  I added the dill to the soup as it was cooking as my own personal preference.

I served this soup with a Polish Meatball in the center this time since my husband is not a soup or meatless meal person and I am slowly easing him into eating more like in Poland, since his dream is to one day live there.

This dish is always much more tasty the next day since the flavors get a change to blend together more in the refrigerator overnight but is still really delicious the day you make it.

I hope you will forgive me that the picture is taken with my phone as the picture needed to be taken quickly since my toddler (I can't believe I can't call her a baby anymore) is teething three fangs at once and just not happy.

Smacznego!

Potato Soup or Zupa Ziemnianczana

Potato Soup is so simple that it's one of the first soups I ever learned how to make.  It's also extremely frugal.

Potato Soup also has played a large role in Polish culture, just as it has in other cultures.  It has been eaten by peasants for centuries.  Because it can be made with a vegetarian broth, it is a popular dish during Lent and other meatless days.

Even in movies such as The Pianist, Potato Soup is mentioned.  It is a soup that has kept people going during lean times.

On talking about living under Communism and why my family left, my Babcia once lamented that "You could stand in long lines behind people to buy your allowed food at the store.  Then, when it was finally your turn to buy, you would see that the shelves in the store were all empty except for one rotten bag of potatoes.  You couldn't even make Potato Soup."

Yesterday while my father joined us for dinner and we ate this dish, my father asked me if I remembered the man with the really big spoons.  I looked at him with surprise.  The flavor of Potato Soup always brings back a faint memory of a man smiling at me while I tried to eat Potato Soup with very large spoons.  The sort of spoons that for my age felt like they were as big as my face. 

I never knew what this memory is of. 

My father explained to me that when we were in Austria as refugees, the man would bring us Potato Soup with very large spoons.  Spoons which were too big even for my father to use.  Spoons like the ones used in The Pianist when the Szpilman family sits around eating what was probably Potato Soup.

Potato Soup is my memory of waiting and being given random acts of kindness from strangers. 

Waiting to be given a direction where we could go. 

Just like Lent is filled with waiting and being given a random act of kindness.


Ingredients:

1 piece of Smoked Polish Bacon with Ribs*
1 Onion, peeled and quartered
2 Carrots, washed, peeled and cut into 3 large pieces
handful of Curly Parsley, chopped
20 Peppercorns, whole in spice ball
10 Potatoes, washed, peeled, and cut into cubes
Salt to taste
Cream or Sour Cream, if you like
Chopped Chives or Curly Parsley to Garnish



In a large pot, place the Bacon, Onion, Carrots, Curly Parsley and Peppercorns and add water.  Bring to Boil and cook on medium heat for 1/2 hour. 

Remove from the liquid the Bacon, Onion, Carrots. 

Add Potatoes

Bring to a boil and cook on medium heat until the potatoes are soft.

Season with Salt.

Serve in bowl, garnish with Sour Cream and Chives or Curly Parsley, if you like.  On the side, you can serve the Meat.

Smacznego!

* I made this soup with meat to enjoy of Wednesday since we do not eat meat during Holy Three-Day Period.  To make vegetarian, just remove meat from list of ingredients.

Mushroom Soup or Zupa Pieczarkowa

While there are two basic Mushroom Soups in Polish cooking, I decided to make Zupa Pieczarkowa which is made with button mushrooms typically found in grocery stores instead of wild mushroom soup.  After all, it is not the time of year for wild mushroom picking. 

I also wanted to make something simple for Meatless Friday during Lent season.

While you might think this soup is a family favorite for us since we are Polish, I have to admit my brother has always hated mushrooms and my father no longer eats them.  My mother was also never a huge fan of button mushrooms.  So, this soup was really one only I ever enjoyed. 

Thankfully, my husband is a mushroom nut since he was a baby.  To put it bluntly, for Thanksgiving we typically buy $20-30 worth of button and crimini mushrooms.  Even last year, when Thanksgiving only involved our children, my husband, my father, and myself.  I sincerely think that my husband's greatest pleasure in life is when I cook the mushrooms the day before and he steals mushrooms from the pot all day long.



Ingredients:

1 pound White Button Mushrooms
2 tablespoons Butter
1/2 Sweet Onion, diced
32 oz. Vegetable Broth
1 tablespoon Flour
1/2 cup Sour Cream
Salt
Teaspoon or two of Apple Vinegar or White Vinegar
Curly Parsley or Dill to garnish, if you like



Wash the Mushrooms well to remove all dirt.  Remove caps and slice.  Trim ends off roots and dice roots finely. 

In soup pot, melt Butter and add Mushrooms and Onion. 

Cook on medium low, stirring once in a while to caramelize the Mushrooms and Onions until the water from the Mushrooms has cooked off. 

Add Broth and bring to a boil.

In a bowl, combine Sour Cream with Flour well.  Add a couple of tablespoons of hot broth and mix well.  Pour into soup and bring gently almost to a boil and turn off.

Add Salt and Vinegar to taste.

If you like, you can add a handful of Curly Parsley or Dill into the pot at this time. 

Serve with good crusty bread.

Smacznego!

Zupa Ogonowa or Oxtail Soup

On Friday, my wonderful husband brought me three packs of Oxtail from the store.  He "wanted to have an Anthony Bourdain experience", referring to the time on the TV Show "No Reservations" when Bourdain ate Oven Roasted Bone Marrow at Prune. 

Let me first point out, all my research has shown that the dish he was thinking of was made with Veal Bones sliced open, not with Oxtail.  I pointed this out but he had his heart set, so I thought "Oh, heck, if I can figure out a way to do this for him, it will be my Valentine's Day present".  After all, bones are bones and marrow is marrow.  Apparently not.

After trying to chop off the outside meat and realizing that Oxtail is not made for this  (Read:  Tail, as in vertebrae, as in little knobs of bone sticking out that are difficult to cut meat off of). 

So, I decided to make a soup I have always loved and only had a couple of times in my life.  Zupa Ogonowa (pronounced Zoo-pah Oh-gohn-oh-wah), or Polish Oxtail Soup.  Super easy, super fatty, perfect for winter.  It does take at least 2 to 3 hours to make, so since we started it late Friday night, we ate it Saturday.  This would be great to make in Crock Pot.


Ingredients:

5 lbs. Oxtail
5 quarts Water (use a very large pot)
3 Bay Leaves
20 Whole Peppercorns
2 teaspoons Ground Allspice (or can use 10 Allspice Berries)
3 Stalks of Celery
5 Carrots, Peeled
5 White Potatoes, Peeled and Diced
2 Leeks, Sliced in Half, and all Leaves washed
Salt (I like to use Coarse Sea Salt for Soups)
1/2 Stick Butter
5 Tablespoons of Flour
1 1/2 teaspoon Sweet Paprika
3-4 Tablespoons Curly Parsley
Ground Pepper


Rinse Oxtails in cold water.  Place Oxtail in Large Soup Pot.

Pour in cold water.  Add Bay Leaves.  Place Peppercorns in a Tea ball and into Soup Pot (that is the silver ball in the picture).

Bring to a Boil and skim off the foam.  (Tip:  If you put the lid on during this time, the foam will climb up the side of the pot and stick to the sides.  You can then use a spatula with a handheld sieve under it to scrape off the sides into the sieve)

Chop Carrots and Celery into bite sized pieces.  Add to Pot.  Boil on low heat for at least another 1 1/2 hours.

Add diced Potatoes and Salt (start with about 4 tablespoons and keep tasting until you reach the level of saltiness you like.  I ended up using 6 tablespoons of Coarse Sea Salt).

In melted butter in a separate Saucepan, caramelize sliced Leeks.  Add Flour.

Add a couple of ladles full of soup to the Leek Mixture.  Stir until thickened.  Add to soup.  Cook until thicker.  Add Parsley and Paprika.  Taste and add any Ground Pepper or Salt, if you like, and serve.

Smacznego!

Barszcz Czerwony Another Way

I recently wrote about making Barszcz Czerwony one way, with lots of delicious vegetables and spices.  But it doesn't have to be made that way every time.  Barszcz Czerwony is one of those Polish family recipes with lots of different variations.  This is one of the most simple ways to make this simple winter soup.



Ingredients:

Beets (with or without Leaves)
2-3 Bay Leaves
1 liter Broth (any kind you prefer)
Water
Salt
Pepper
2-3 tablespoons Marjoram
Barszcz Czerwony Concentrate (buy in Polish stores)


Scrub Beets well and boil in water until tender.  Peel and slice.

Put in large Soup pot.  If using Leaves, rinse, chop up into bite sizes and place in pot.  Pour in Broth and enough water to cover Beets with an additional inch of liquids.  Add Bay Leaves, Salt, Pepper, and Marjoram.  Bring to boil and cook for a few minutes so that flavors can blend together. 

Take off heat, add Barszcz Czerwony Concentrate to taste.  For storage, can be placed in jars which have been rinsed in hot water & sterilized.  Allow to cool on counter and keep in refrigerator for up to a couple of weeks.  For tips on safe canning methods

 

Smacznego!

A Winter Vegetable Soup Dinner

Last night, I was supposed to make a Pot Roast.  And I did!  But, it wasn't finished until 8 pm because I didn't start it until after 4 (oops).  The family still had to be fed.  Which is why I always keep a pot of soup in the refrigerator, especially in the winter.

I have no idea what you would call this soup.  I had purchased a packet of vegetables from the local ethnic store a few days prior and had made a soup from some of the ingredients.

Inside, there were 2 Red Potatoes, a 1/2 Head of Cauliflower, a 1/2 Head of Cabbage, 3 handfuls of Baby Carrots, 2 handfuls of Celery sticks, a bunch of Flat Parsley, a Chayote, Zucchini, an Ear of Corn, and 4 Chicken Bouillon cubes.

I looked at it, thought "Hmmm, now what do you do with that?" and bought it.  After I brought it home, my husband asked some Mexican coworkers about the Chayote and he was told that there is a particular soup/stew made with these ingredients.  Well, that would be no fun just chopping up everything and basically following a recipe. 

Sometimes, I like to buy produce and experiment.  Sometimes, the experiment fails miserably but other times, it's fabulous.  This time, it was a success...

Winter Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

1/2 Head of Cabbage
1/2 Head of Cauliflower
2 Red Potatoes
One Leek, the Dark Green Tip
2 Handfuls of Baby Carrots
2 Celery Sticks
4 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
4-6 large pinches of Dill
Water
1 teaspoon of Herbal Pepper or 1/2 teaspoon of Ground Black Pepper *
Sour Cream


Peel and dice the Potatoes.  Chop the Cabbage and Cauliflower to bite sizes. 

Split the Leeks in half, lengthwise.  Separate each leaf and wash in a bowl of cold water.  Chop into bite sizes.

Add all ingredients, except Sour Cream to crock pot.  Use enough water to cover the vegetables and to make the amount of soup broth you like.  Cook until all vegetables are soft.

Serve with one to two tablespoons of Sour Cream mixed in.

I think this would also be delicious with Mushrooms.  Or with a hard boiled Egg chopped and added on top as garnish.

We served it with homemade Pierogi covered in Butter.

* Herbal Pepper can be bought in Polish stores or other Ethnic stores.  Sometimes, Herbal Pepper is another word for Ground Coriander.  Sometimes, it's a mix which is meant as a substitute for Black Pepper, which is called Herbal Pepper.

Smacznego!