Chilled Polish Beet Soup
On Wednesdays, for a brief moment, my life falls into sync with that of my mother’s. Early that morning, a neatly folded newspaper lands on Mom’s porch. Later in the day, she peers over the food section with scissors in hand and snips recipes for summer pastas or winter soups.
Across town, I do the same. Actually, I do the same all week long, just without a newspaper. Instead, I print my recipes from the numerous food blogs and emails that I come across daily. And on Wednesdays, I print more recipes—and I read the New York Times, hungry to know the latest about Spanish wines and South Carolina farming.
Wednesdays are the day of food news. But, for Mom and me, that brings different results. Even though we both spend time pining after photos of perfectly prepared cakes and bright tomatoes, we don’t snip (or print) the same recipes.
Mom likes short, simple ones. Eats invented by the Junior League of Denver or the editors of the local paper. I like easy recipes, too, but ones from foreign countries or well-known national chefs, like Rick Bayless or Marco Canora. Which means that over the years, Mom and I have built drastically different recipe boxes, filled with flavors a generation apart.
There are, though, a few recipes that you find in each of our boxes. Chlodnik, or chilled Polish beet soup, is one of those. It comes from the yellowing pages of my mom’s Polish recipe book and blends earthy beets with tangy, salty pickles, crunchy cucumbers, and sweet dill.
I remember eating it, as a child with my family, gathered around the backyard table. My sister and I would gulp it down, craving the chill of the sweet, sour cream-accented broth and filling up on the chunks of fresh vegetable and hard-boiled egg. Between bites, my Polish-American father would declare that Poles make a more flavorful chilled soup than the Spanish do.
These days, though, despite our recipe connection, I don’t often see my mom—or, for that matter, my family. But last week, on Wednesday, I made chlodnik (pronounced whoad-nick), and Thursday, on my way to the airport, I swung by my parents’ house. I carried with me a large Tupperware of the deep pink soup, and when I walked in the house, my dad said, “Oh, chlodnik. That’s so much better than gazpacho.” And my mom, reaching past the closet where yesterdays’ food section sat with the recycling, hugged me.
Chlodnik: Polish Beet Soup
Serves 8-10
This chilled beet soup is a blend of two recipes from my mom’s tattered Polish cookbook. In it, ruby red beets meet crunchy cucumbers and salty pickles. Which makes for a deep pink, highly refreshing soup that my Polish-American father claims is better than gazpacho.
4 large beets with stalks and leaves, washed
4 cups beef broth
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
¾ cup pickle juice, from the jar
½ cup sour cream
2 large dill pickles, diced
3 pickling cucumbers, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh dill leaves
3 scallions, sliced thin
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
5 hard boiled eggs, peeled and halved
Cut leaves and stalks from beets, and place them in large saucepan along with beet roots. Cover with water, bring to a boil, and cook beets until tender, about 35 minutes. Reserving the cooking water, remove beets and leaves. Discard the stocks and leaves, and let beets cool, about 20 minutes. Peel and dice beets.
While the beets are cooking, heat the beef broth in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Combine the flour and water until smooth. When broth is simmering, add flour mixture and sugar. Cook for one minute, remove from heat, and cool about 20 minutes.
When beef mixture has cooled, add lemon and pickle juices, plus sour cream. Whisk until combined. Add beets, pickles, cucumbers, garlic, dill, and scallions. If soup seems too thick, add reserved beet water. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Chill for at least 2 hours.
To serve, fill bowls with soup and top with half a hard-boiled egg.
For printable recipe, click here.
