Zupa Ogórkowa

Ingredients

• 1.5 litres chicken stock
• 6 fermented dill pickles, about 350 g
• 150 ml pickle brine
• 500 g potatoes
• 2 carrots
• 1 parsley root
• 1 small leek
• 2 tbsp butter
• 120 ml double cream
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 3 tbsp chopped dill
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 allspice berries
• 1 pinch caster sugar
• salt and black pepper

Before you cook

• Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1.5 cm cubes.
• Peel and coarsely grate the carrots and the parsley root.
• Slice the leek into thin half moons and rinse it well.
• Coarsely grate the pickles on the large holes of a box grater.
• Chop the dill finely.

Steps

1. Pour the chicken stock into a large pot and bring it to a simmer.
2. Add the bay leaf and the allspice berries.
3. Tip in the grated carrot, parsley root and leek.
4. Simmer the vegetables for ten minutes.
5. Add the cubed potatoes and simmer for a further twelve minutes.
6. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat.
7. Add the grated pickles and cook them for six minutes to soften their raw edge.
8. Scrape the pickles and butter into the soup pot.
9. Simmer everything together for eight minutes.
10. Pour in the pickle brine a little at a time, tasting after each addition.
11. Whisk the flour into the cream in a small bowl until smooth.
12. Ladle two spoonfuls of hot soup into the cream and whisk again.
13. Pour the tempered cream back into the pot in a slow stream, stirring constantly.
14. Warm the soup through without letting it come back to a boil.
15. Season with salt, black pepper and a pinch of sugar.
16. Stir most of the dill into the pot.
17. Ladle into bowls and finish with the remaining dill.