Ice Cold Schav Recipes

ICE-COLD SCHAV

Steps:

• Melt butter in nonreactive soup pot. Sweat shallot and minced potato scraps in the butter slowly, stirring gently. Season with salt.
• Put diced potatoes in the water, season with salt and bring to a boil. Simmer potatoes until perfectly cooked, a couple of minutes only. Taste one cube to determine.
• Add sorrel to sweating shallot-potato mixture, and season with salt. Stir and wilt the sorrel, which will happen almost instantly, turning drab immediately.
• Add the cooked potatoes and their salty water to the pot of sorrel. Season with salt, if needed, keeping in mind that when chilled, the flavors are dulled significantly.
• Chill immediately and thoroughly - overnight even.
• Chop the hard-boiled eggs, and scatter in the cold soup. Mince half the reserved stems from the sorrel as you would chives, and sprinkle over soup.

WHOLE ROASTED RABBIT WITH GUANCIALE, WILTED GREENS AND PAN DRIPPINGS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
• Season rabbits on all sides and inside the cavity with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.
• Trim the watercress and dandelion greens, removing the woodiest stems. Cut the Treviso into halves the long way, then cut each half into thirds, and trim away any especially tough white stalky interior core.
• Lay sliced guanciale on a sheet pan large enough to hold the rabbits. (You can use 2 separate pans if necessary.) Scatter the dandelion greens, watercress and Treviso on top of the guanciale, and then place the rabbit on top, back side facing up. Drizzle the rabbit and greens with the wine and extra-virgin olive oil.
• Roast rabbits for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, check rabbits, and rotate the pans to ensure that they are cooking and browning evenly. Return to the oven to continue roasting until rabbit legs are just cooked through, about 15 more minutes.
• Let rabbit rest for 10 minutes, then cut into 8 pieces each; two hindquarters, two forequarters and four loin pieces. Transfer the guanciale and greens to a serving platter. Place the rabbit pieces on top and drizzle with the pan-drippings left on the sheet tray and a healthy drizzle of olive oil.

SCHAV( COLD SORREL SOUP)

Steps:

• Pick over and wash sorrel.
• Chop leaves very fine.
• Bring water to a rolling boil
• Drop in sorrel.
• Cook for 10 minutes.
• Cool.
• Pour into quart jars.
• Serve in cold bowl with dollop of sour cream,
• topped with scallions and radishes.
• Plunk potatoes around.

WHITE BORSCHT

Steps:

• Cut kielbasa into 4 equal lengths, and cover in a pot with 3 quarts cold water and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then let gently boil for 25 minutes more until swollen and cooked through and beads of oil have formed. Pull sausages from the now smoky and seasoned water, and set aside. Save that water!
• While the kielbasa simmers, split leeks in half lengthwise, then soak and rinse in cold water to thoroughly remove all sand. Slice leeks into 3/8-inch half-moons from whites to dark greens, as far up as is viable.
• Peel potatoes, trim all four sides to stabilize on the cutting board and trim both ends to "box" the potato. Save the scraps. Cut the boxes into large cubes, about 3/4-inch square.
• In a sturdy soup pot, melt 1 stick butter over low heat until foaming. Stir in onion, garlic and a healthy pinch of salt, and let them sweat for a full 5 minutes until translucent.
• Stir in remaining butter, the sliced leeks and another generous pinch of salt, then let sweat slowly over low heat for 8 minutes until moist, bright green and glossy.
• Add potato scraps, the cube of bread and half the kielbasa boiling liquid. Let gently simmer 10 minutes while the potato scrap softens and the bread hunk becomes flabby and swollen. If you need to increase the heat to get a little simmer going, do so.
• Meanwhile, slice kielbasa in half lengthwise. Place two pieces back into the soup pot as is, and then slice the remaining 6 pieces into very thin, 1/8-inch half-moons, and set aside.
• Retrieve the soggy lump of sourdough bread with a slotted spoon, and don't worry if you also get a few bits of leek or onion or whatever is floating in the soup when you pull it out. Also remove about 1 cup of liquid, and set aside.
• Add potato cubes and the rest of the kielbasa liquid to the pot. Add another pinch of salt and half the black pepper. Let it come back to temperature, and then to simmer until potatoes are cooked through, about 25 minutes more.
• Using either a stick blender or a traditional blender, purée the sodden hunk of bread until foamy, using some of the liquid you pulled in Step 8, if needed. Stir this back into the soup pot once the potatoes are cooked through, and add the sliced kielbasa as well.
• Whisk the crème fraîche with 1/2 cup of the hot reserved liquid; stir mixture into the soup. Stir in the chopped dill and the remaining 1/2 tablespoon pepper. Serve very hot.

SCHAV

Steps:

• Stem and wash the sorrel, and cut the leaves into ribbons. Peel the potatoes and cut them into half-inch dice. Cut the leek in half, chop it and wash it thoroughly.
• Melt the butter in a large saucepan, and cook the leek for two minutes over medium heat. Add the sorrel and potatoes and cook for five minutes. Add the stock, two cups water, salt and pepper to taste, and the sugar, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the potatoes are very tender.
• Puree the soup in a blender or food processor. (A blender works better than a food processor; if you use the processor, puree the solids first and gradually add the liquids). Stir in the cream and chill the soup for at least an hour. Just before serving, add the lemon juice and additional sugar and salt, if necessary - the soup should be refreshingly tart but a little sweet. Serve schav in bowls with dollops of sour cream. Garnish each bowl with chopped scallions.