No. 93 — Green Purée Soup with Sorrel or Spinach

This soup can be made with sorrel alone, spinach alone, or equal parts. If using a single green, take about 1½ Russian pounds of cleaned leaves. If mixing, use ¾ pound of each.

Make stock from 2–3 Russian pounds of beef, roots, ½ pound of ham, a bunch of greens and two or three dried mushrooms, adding a handful of cleaned dill, and strain.

For sorrel, pick over and wash ¾–1½ pounds, drain, chop finely in a wooden bowl and put with its own juice in a stoneware saucepan. Cook in the juice without adding water, rub through a sieve, thin with hot strained stock and boil. Thicken with a spoonful of flour mixed with cold water. If desired, lightly fry a chopped onion in half a spoonful of butter and add it.

For spinach, sort and wash ¾–1½ pounds, drain, put into salted boiling water with soda and cook until tender. Drain, rinse with cold water and, when drained, rub through a sieve into a stoneware pan, immediately adding a piece of butter. Just before serving remove the stock from the heat, stir in the spinach purée, finely shredded mushrooms and sour cream and serve at once.

To provide

• 2–3 Russian pounds of beef; ½ pound of ham, 2–3 dried mushrooms, a bunch of greens
• A handful of dill; ¾–1½ Russian pounds each of sorrel or spinach, according to choice
• 1 spoonful of flour, 1 spoonful of butter and 1 onion
• ½–2 glasses of sour cream; or 2 yolks and ½–1 glass of cream
• Optional ¼ small spoonful of soda

With very young sorrel use more of the leaves and less flour. Older, more acidic sorrel is used in a smaller quantity, with more flour. Instead of sour cream, mix two egg yolks with half to one glass of cream, warm in the soup until very hot and then immediately add the spinach purée and mushrooms.

Serve with sliced ham, hard-boiled or stuffed eggs, meatballs, little pies, fried buckwheat porridge, brains in shells and other accompaniments.