Easter Zurek

The popular Polish sour-rye soup, best known as " Żurek" in Polish, is a favorite Easter dish in Poland! It's typically enjoyed during the Polish Easter brunch and is made according to a variety of different culinary traditions all around Poland. With the spring holiday approaching, we've invited one of America's favorite Polish food bloggers, Anna Hurning with Polish Your Kitchen, to share her secret recipe for this delicious Polish soup. In the recipe below you'll find Anna's expert instructions on how to make this classic Polish Easter soup from scratch with a homemade sour-rye starter OR how to make a slightly quicker version with pre-made ingredients available on Polana.com.  Anna also includes her secret tips on how to give this soup its classic, flavorful taste! Hope you add it to your Easter menu this Easter season! 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 bottles (500 ml each) of Polana rye sour starter*
• 1.5 quarts of water
• 1 carrot
• 1 small parsley root
• 2 inch wedge of a celery root
• 6 oz of smoked slab bacon (in one piece)
• 6 links of Polana fresh Polish sausage (about 16 oz)
• 1 tsp salt (more to taste)
• 3 tbs of dried marjoram
• 2 crushed cloves of garlic
• Sprinkle of ground black pepper

Garnish:

• 6 eggs
• 6 tsp of prepared horseradish

RECIPE DIRECTIONS

1. Place all vegetables in a soup pot, add water, bacon, sausages and salt.
2. Bring to boil. Skim off all solids and simmer on low for 30 minutes.
3. With a slotted spoon, gently remove vegetables, bacon and sausages. Cut sausages into 1-2 inch pieces.
4. To the stock add 2 bottles of rye starter, sausage pieces, marjoram (rub in between your fingers to bloom) and crushed garlic. Sprinkle with ground pepper and boil on low for 5 minutes stirring often.
5. Taste and add a bit more salt, if needed.
6. Soup is ready but it will do best if it combines for a few hours or overnight.
7. When ready to serve, add hard boiled eggs. Place two egg halves in each bowl along with a few pieces of sausage.
8. Pour in hot soup and add a bit of horseradish to taste.
9. Serve with Polish Zakopiański bread.

*HOMEMADE SOUR STARTER. INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup of rye flour (plus 1/2 cup of day 3)
• 2 cups / 500 ml of boiled and cooled water (plus 2 cups / 500 ml on day 3)
• 5 garlic cloves
• 3 bay leaves
• 6 allspice berries
• 6 whole pepper corns
• 1 tbs of dried marjoram
• 1 quart glass jar/container

RECIPE DIRECTIONS:

1. Sanitize a glass container (I'm using a jar) and cool enough to handle.
2. Mix cool water with flour until combined.
3. Place all ingredients in your container and stir. Cover with kitchen towel or cheese cloth and let rest for 3 days at room temperature (must see bubbles in the texture). If no bubbles are present, give it another day or two.
4. On day 3 (or when bubbles start showing) add remaining flour and water, stir well and let rest at room temperature for another 3-4 days.
5. Stir daily. When done cover and refrigerate until ready to cook.

NOTES: Rye starter should be sour and fragrant. If you're not a huge fan of garlic, skip it. Add some to the soup instead.

For more Polish recipes from Anna visit www.polishyourkitchen.com