Ogórkowa

A classic wintertime comfort food: cucumber soup made out of pickles. To clarify things, I found this article on Wiki and repeat that for this soup we use cucumbers pickled in salt water. In Poland, we have three ways to make pickles and each one is used in other recipes:

- konserwowe: pickled in vinegar for a few days, can be bought in a jar as "swedish salad", used for salads and herring dishes. Also some degenerates like me eat them out of jar while watching movie, especially when I run out of popcorn
- kiszone: pickled in closed jars or kegs , in salted water, for a few weeks. Used in salads, raw, as a side dish, to eat with vodka, for soups or stuffing
- małosolne or kwaszone: pickled in salted water for a few days, usually in an open dish. Have mellow taste, are not that sour as kiszone and much lighter in colour. Eaten raw in summer, with crackers or between vodka shots:)

In here, we use that second type. The soup is sour and rich due to potatoes that are cooked in broth, releasing starch to the liquid. Some people add sour cream to it before serving: I leave that up to you, personally find it disgusting.

Pickle soup:
2 l veggie broth
2 big carrots, peeled
1 big parsley root
4 medium potatoes
a quarter celeriac root (optional, I don't like the taste it brings)
3 large pickles
3/4 cup pickle juice (the liquid pickles are floating in)
some allspice and pepper, salt
optional: sour cream, chopped dill to garnish

Cut the carrots in cubes, shred the celeriac and parsley roots. Add to broth, salt a bit and begin to cook till carrot is al dente. Then add peeled & cubed potatoes, cook till tender again. Finally add shredded pickles and coo for 10-15 minutes more. Pour in pickle juice and turn off the heat.

If you want to serve the soup with cream, wait till it cools down a bit and first mix the cream with a cup of soup liquid, then add to the pot. Traditionally served sprinkled with fresh dill.