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Cream of Sorrel Soup
Wash thoroughly about a pint of sorrel, break it in pieces, or slightly bruise the leaves. Cook it in a tablespoonful of butter and 2 tablespoonfuls of water for ten or fifteen minutes, or until tender enough to rub through a sieve. Put the sieved pulp in a saucepan with a quart of white stock and a pint of bechamel sauce, season with half a teaspoonful of salt and a saltspoonful of pepper, and let it simmer twenty minutes. Beat together the yolks of 2 eggs and a cupful of cream; stir it into the hot soup, stirring briskly until it thickens. Serve with croutons or squares of crisp toast.
A classic French potage built on three pre-made components — white stock, bechamel and an egg-and-cream liaison. The one step that decides success is the final thickening.
- Never boil after the yolks go inOnce the yolk-and-cream mixture is stirred in, keep the soup below about 180F. A boil curdles the yolks into threads and no amount of whisking will bring it back. Temper by stirring a ladle of hot soup into the yolks first, then return the lot to the pan off direct heat.
- A pint of sorrelMeasured as loosely packed leaves, so a modest quantity by weight rather than a large one. Sorrel collapses to almost nothing, so the volume looks generous and cooks down to a few tablespoons of pulp.
- Use a non-reactive panSorrel is high in oxalic acid and will take on a metallic taste and grey cast in aluminium, iron or unlined copper. Stainless or enamel throughout.
- ColourCooked sorrel turns olive-drab within minutes — this is normal and not a fault. Cooks who want a green soup add a handful of raw spinach or parsley puree at the very end, off the heat.
- SaltspoonfulA saltspoon is about a quarter teaspoon. If the stock or bechamel have been seasoned already, taste before adding the half teaspoon of salt called for.
- White stock and bechamelWhite stock is unroasted veal or chicken stock, pale and lightly gelatinous; a good unsalted chicken stock stands in. The pint of bechamel means a pouring sauce, not the thick binding kind.
- SievingA food mill or a fine sieve with a wooden spoon gives the smooth pulp intended. A blender leaves fibrous stem threads unless the leaves were stripped from their midribs first.
- YieldAbout 2 quarts finished soup, serving six to eight as a first course. It does not reheat well once the liaison is in — warm gently and never past a simmer.