It is, in fact, a weed – sorrel grows everywhere. For a long time I indifferently passed by: trying to discover more and more exotic plants, I did not even imagine that a real treasure could be found near the dacha!
Of course, everyone knows the taste of homemade sorrel soup, with a slight sourness, hot in winter and cold in summer. But the possibilities of sorrel do not end there. It is curious that the French were the first to discover the wonderful taste of this Russian “weed”! It was they who began to add it to various dishes, and in Russia they paid attention to it only at the beginning of the 1th century. And by the way, many are still wary of sorrel because of its pronounced sour taste. Among the greenery, sorrel is a kind of “snowdrop”, it appears earlier than others, already at the very beginning of April. The amount of useful substances that it contains is amazing: vitamins A, C, E, B2 and BXNUMX and all kinds of trace elements (potassium, iron, copper, magnesium, sodium, nickel, strontium, fluorine, zinc). It is the phenomenal amount of vitamin C that gives sorrel its notorious sourness. But I, for example, really like it – the taste of any dish is immediately transformed beyond recognition! For example, seafood without sauce or spices almost always seems a little bland, and adding sorrel to fish or crab meat will immediately add an exquisite piquancy to their taste.
And here’s another surprise from the “poor weed”. Once, at a party, they gave me a pie with a “secret” filling to try. It was incredibly tasty, but I could not figure out what it was made of. At first sensations – strawberries, but the filling was green. And then they told me that it was made … from sorrel! As it turned out, when sorrel is roasted, it loses all of its acid and tastes like real strawberries.
Later, I realized that in different dishes, sorrel opens up in a new way each time. Therefore, if you want to intrigue your guests, add sorrel to the dish and offer to solve your riddle.
Salad with sorrel and crab
For 4 persons
Preparation: 10 minutes
Preparation: 30 minutes
- 2 soft shell crabs
- 2 artichokes
- a few leaves of fresh sorrel,
- corn lettuce, spinach and arugula
- 3 hours. L. starch
- parmesan cheese thin shavings
- salt and pepper
For the filling:
- 1 Art. l. olive oil
- 1 Art. l. soy sauce
- 2 tsp pomegranate sauce “Narsharab”
Preparation
Peel the artichokes, leaving only the core, cut into thin slices, dust with starch and deep-fry until golden brown. If the crabs are frozen, defrost them, dust with starch and also deep-fry for about 10 minutes. Then cut into two halves. Mix sorrel and lettuce leaves, add artichoke, salt and pepper. Mix all the dressing ingredients and dress the salad. Arrange it on plates, put the crab halves next to it, decorate everything with parmesan cheese chips. Gourmet appetizer is ready!
sorrel pie
For 2 persons
Preparation: 1 hour
Preparation: 40 minutes
For the almond shortcrust pastry:
- 2. Art. l. wheat flour
- 4 hours. L. icing sugar
- 1 egg
- 30 g butter
- 2 tsp almond flour
- vanilla on the tip of a knife
- salt
For the filling:
- large bunch of sorrel
- without stems (about 250 g)
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 / 2 hours. L. ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp cane sugar
Preparation
Mix wheat and almond flour. Soften the butter and rub with powdered sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth and fluffy. Then add the egg, flour and knead the dough. Leave it in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Rinse the sorrel leaves and cut into thin strips, add honey, cinnamon and cane sugar, mix and let stand for 10-15 minutes. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 3 mm, put on the bottom of a round mold (diameter 12–15 cm). Put the filling, after squeezing out excess moisture. Brush the edges of the pastry with the egg and cover with the rest of the pastry. Brush the surface with the egg too. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 175°C.