lolaraincoat: drawing, two leaves (green)
[personal profile] lolaraincoat
So we have a whole lot of sorrel in the garden right now. What should I do with it? Put it in a mouth-puckering salad? Cook it? How?

Date: 2008-04-30 10:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amelia-eve.livejournal.com
A colleague from the Caribbean brought me a fabulous drink made from sorrel, but now that I Google a bit for recipes, I see that it is made from the flowers rather than the leaves. But if you do end up with enough flowers to make something like this, it's delicious, very tart and refreshing and a beautiful ruby color.

Date: 2008-04-30 10:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lolaraincoat.livejournal.com
Hmmm. You know, I'm not sure that's the same plant - the recipe seems to refer to flowers that grow on trees? What we have here looks a bit like a lettuce, and I don't think it flowers at all. But it's still called sorrel.

Date: 2008-05-01 12:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amelia-eve.livejournal.com
I know nothing about it except that I dated a boy in college whose father was named Sorrel. And I loved that drink!

Date: 2008-04-30 10:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellen-fremedon.livejournal.com
I've been eating it in mixed green salads, with radishes and/or cucumbers and/or goat cheese. (I wouldn't put too much of it in at once; it's supposed to be a laxative in large quantities.)

I've also put some into a tzatziki to eat with lamb burgers, and that was fantastic.

Joy of Cooking also recommends a chiffonade of sorrel in soups. I haven't tried that yet, but I bet it would be excellent in a ministrini, or as a garnish to a potato soup or a green pea soup.

Date: 2008-04-30 11:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lolaraincoat.livejournal.com
Oooh! Oooh! I was going to make a turkey meatloaf tomorrow anyway! I could leave out the dried-tomato topping and do a kind of Greek-yoghurt-and-sorrel sauce! Mmm!

Thank you!

Date: 2008-05-01 12:36 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amelia-eve.livejournal.com
I have been on a major meatloaf kick (I always use half turkey and half turkey sausage, with oatmeal for binder). I made a bunch of freezeable food for Leit while I was there, and then came home and made two more loaves for me. It's so fulfilling, somehow.

Best accompaniment of this series was whole wheat couscous with sauteed mushrooms and spinach.

Date: 2008-04-30 10:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sanj.livejournal.com
Just a little bit in salads and the whole thing tastes fresh and citrus-y. Apparently it's also good with lamb, if you eat lamb.

Date: 2008-04-30 11:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lolaraincoat.livejournal.com
Oh I eat everything, and in quantity.

However tomorrow night's guest is pickier, so no lamb for him. Turkey should be okay, though. Hmmmm ...

Date: 2008-05-01 12:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] executrix.livejournal.com
I never could stand the stuff myself, but schav is sorrel soup--I think you just puree it with chicken broth and eggs and heat gently. Sorrel sauce is traditional with shad, but I bet you don't have any shad either.

The drink is something else entirely--it's flor de jamaica, or hibiscus, the stuff you make Red Zinger out of.

Date: 2008-05-01 01:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lolaraincoat.livejournal.com
Oh, jamaica ... aka hibiscus, aka Rose of Sharon. I know that! Just hadn't ever heard it called sorrel before. We have some of that in the front year that a friend gave me. Presumably by midsummer I could drink "sorrel" punch while eating sorrel salad.

It is a never-ending source of entertainment to me how much of the decorative bits of the garden are edible, and how pretty some of the edible bits of the garden are.

Date: 2008-05-01 04:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dremiel.livejournal.com
Here's a Gordon Ramsay recipe that I made last year when I got a bundle of sorrel in my farm box and wanted something other than typical sorrel soup. I made it with veggie stock and left off the caviar garnish. It was lovely.

Cauliflower Sorrel Soup

1 large head cauliflower, stem discarded, florets chopped
1 medium potato, peeled and chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cups light chicken stock
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
6 large sorrel leaves, stems trimmed, then shredded
2 tablespoons caviar (optional)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Place the cauliflower florets, potato, and onion in a saucepan with the butter and oil. Heat gently and, when the contents start to sizzle, cover with a lid and sweat everything over a low heat for about 10 minutes. The vegetables should not be at all colored.
Add the stock and bring to a boil, then pour in the milk and return gently to a boil. (This way, there will be no scum forming in the milk.) Season to taste, then simmer, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes when the vegetables should be soft.
Pour in half the cream, then puree in a food processor or blender, or blend in the pan with an immersion blender. Pass the puree through a sieve into a clean pan, rubbing with the back of a ladle.
Stir in the rest of the cream. Taste for seasoning and bring the soup to a boil. Ladle into soup plates, top with sorrel shreds, and add a spoonful of caviar to each. Serve.

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