Easter Barszcz Recipes

Steps:

• Bring water, kielbasa, and 2 whole cloves garlic to boil in a large pot; reduce heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove sausage and pour liquid into a separate bowl. Cut sausage into cubes.
• Melt butter over medium heat in the pot used to boil sausage; cook and stir leeks, onion, and minced garlic until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer vegetables to a blender; add about 1/2 cup reserved sausage water and blend until smooth, adding more water as needed.
• Pour vegetable puree and remaining sausage water back into the original pot. Add bay leaves and bring borscht to a simmer over medium heat; remove and discard leaves. Whisk sour cream and flour in a bowl until smooth; gradually whisk into borscht until thickened. Stir dill and vinegar into soup and season with salt and black pepper.
• Divide cubed sausage and chopped eggs into bowls; ladle borscht over sausage and egg.

Steps:

• 1. Place pre-cooked ham and kielbasa in a roaster. Add 2 quarts of water, cover and roast for 2 hours at 350 degrees. Reserve the pan juices as this will be the base for your soup broth. Refrigerate and then remove the fat from top afterwards. NOw, add the juices to a large pot and your addtl water to make 8 quarts. *If using an uncooked ham, do not add kielbasa util 1 hour before ham is done cooking.
• 2. Add your peppercorns, garlic and bring to a simmer. In a medium bowl add your 1 cup of water and 1/2 flour, whisk till smooth and then add to your broth.
• 3. Now, add your vineager to the level of taste your desire. Add more if you like it to be a really tart soup. (I loved it with the extra vinegar.) Simmer for awhile till the soup thickens and flavors meld. Probably about 1 hr or a little longer.
• 4. Slice up Kielbasa 1/4 inch thick, cube ham and rye bread into bite sized pieces and the farmers cheese too. Coarsely chop your eggs. (The farmers cheese Chef Tad brought was extremely soft and so yummy too. It was unlike any farmers cheese I have had before. I will ask him this coming Sunday at our next class where he got it.)
• 5. Combine all the chopped ingredients into a large bowl, so that it can be scooped out and placed in serving dishes.
• 6. Now ladle your very hot broth over the top and add your desired amount of horseradish to your own bowl.
• 7. Now, you are ready to eat a most delicious bowl of authentic polish soup. I just love the tartness in the broth and our chef that taught us how to make this soup brought homemade polish smoked kielbasa. It packed so much flavor and was so delicious added into this soup.

Steps:

• Take about 1 cup rye flour and place it in a 1-quart jar. Fill it with room-temperature filtered (non-chlorinated) water and leave it, lid slightly askew, for three days to a week. During this time, skim the crust off the top. (If you want to hurry the fermentation process, add a pinch of yeast and it should be ready in a day or two.) When the rye mixture is ready, strain it. If it's too thick, add a little water to it. It shouldn't be thicker than heavy cream.
• Bring about 2 quarts of water to a boil. Ideally, use water from the Easter ham you boiled or some kielbasa you cooked, but plain water can do in a pinch. Pour the rye mixture in, whisking the whole time (or you'll get a big noodle in there) and bring it back up to a boil. Reduce the heat so it's no longer at a boil.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together one egg, 1 to 2 tablespoons salt and 1/4 cup whole milk or cream.
• Pour the egg mixture into the pot of water, making sure not to scramble the eggs (I'd probably temper the eggs by adding a bit of the hot liquid into them before adding them back into the pot of hot water, but who am I to mess with Andy's father's proven cooking methods?)
• Bring the mixture to a boil. As soon as it hits a boil, turn it off.
• In individual soup bowls, place a lot of fresh grated horseradish root (none of the jarred stuff) and finely diced kielbasa, ham, firm Andrulis Farmers cheese, bacon that's been boiled and smoked at the deli (no need to fry it) and hard boiled egg (preferably eggs you've had blessed-wait, actually, have all of this stuff blessed by a priest, for good measure). Pour soup on top.