Sorrel Soup
Sharp, velvety, and intensely green, until it hits the heat and turns the colour of wet leaves. Soupe à l'oseille is one of those French dishes tastes like spring. The sorrel melts in the pan, the potatoes absorb all that bright acidity, and the crème fraîche pulls it together into something silky and just a little bit surprising.
Ingredients
- 300 gr sorrel stalks removed
- 500 gr floury potatoes peeled and diced
- 2 shallots finely sliced
- 40 gr unsalted butter
- 1 l vegetable stock
- 150 ml crème fraîche plus extra to serve
- 4 eggs
- salt and black pepper
- small bunch flat-leaf parsley or chervil, to garnish
Equipment
- saucepan for the eggs
Instructions
1. Prepare the sorrel
- Wash the sorrel thoroughly in cold water, then strip out the central stalks, hold each leaf and pull the stalk downwards, like you would with spinach. Roughly chop the leaves and set aside. Don't be alarmed by the quantity; sorrel collapses dramatically on contact with heat and 300g will reduce to almost nothing within minutes.
2. Sweat the shallots
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a low-medium heat. Add the shallots and cook gently for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until completely soft and translucent. You want no colour here, just slow, gentle sweating to draw out their sweetness and build the base of the soup.
3. Wilt the sorrel
- Add the sorrel to the pan and stir well. It will collapse almost immediately, going from a generous pile of bright green leaves to a dark, olive-coloured paste within 2–3 minutes. This is normal, the oxalic acid in sorrel reacts with heat and the colour change. The flavour is entirely unaffected.
4. Add the potatoes and stock
- Add the diced potatoes to the pan and stir to coat them in the sorrel and butter. Pour in the vegetable stock, season generously with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a steady simmer and cook for 20–25 minutes, until the potatoes are completely tender and break apart easily when pressed.
5. Hard-boil the eggs
- While the soup simmers, lower the eggs carefully into a saucepan of boiling water and cook for 10 minutes exactly. Transfer immediately to a bowl of cold water, leave for 5 minutes, then peel and slice in half lengthways. Set aside.
6. Finish the soup
- Remove the pan from the heat briefly and taste carefully for seasoning, sorrel is acidic, so you may need more salt than you expect. Return to a low heat, stir in the crème fraîche, and warm through gently for a few minutes. Do not let the soup boil once the crème fraîche is added. The potatoes will have softened and broken down slightly into the broth, giving the soup body without blending.
7. Serve
- Ladle into deep bowls. Place two egg halves cut-side up in each bowl, add a generous spoonful of crème fraîche, and scatter over the chopped parsley or chervil. Finish with a few turns of black pepper and serve immediately with good crusty bread.
Notes
- 300g of sorrel is the right amount for a well-balanced soup, enough acidity to be the point of the dish without being overwhelming. In early spring, when freshly cut sorrel is at its most pungent, you might even start with 250g and taste as you go.
- Fresh sorrel is available from farmers' markets and some greengrocers from April through early summer. It's also straightforward to grow, it's a hardy perennial that returns every year with minimal effort.
- If you can only find frozen sorrel, it works reasonably well. Defrost fully before use and proceed as normal; expect the flavour to be a little less vivid than fresh.
- The hard-boiled egg is genuinely traditional in several French regions, particularly in Bordeaux and the Limousin. It adds substance and makes this a proper light meal rather than just a starter.
- Chervil is the more classically French garnish here, with its delicate anise flavour complementing the soup well. Flat-leaf parsley is a perfectly good substitute.