Sorrel is an easy, delicious plant to cultivate in your garden. It doesn't take much room and offers many possibilities for cooking from the kitchen garden. It faithfully returns every year without even being asked. Give it a little liquid fertilizer after true leaves appear and your rewards will be great.
Our clump of sorrel must be used soon--it's starting to bolt (go to seed). When herbaceous plants do this, they think they can retire for the season and form their seeds for next year. Snip off the seed shoots and the plant will continue for a while longer. Repeat if necessary.
Sorrel (Fr. oesille), also commonly known as sour grass or lemon grass, is a very hardy perennial herb that dates back to 300 B. C. and still grows wild in Asia, Europe, and North America. Local nurseries usually carry a few starter plants in early spring, or seeds may be ordered from seed catalogs that carry herbs and started indoors. Our two plants are at least ten years old. They are one of the very first plants to burst up through the snow in late winter. We love picking the leaves for sauce on poached salmon (see post February 4, 2010 for sauce), sorrel soup, and as an omelet filling (yes!)
Sorrel looks and acts a lot like spinach, but usually grows in a clump rather than rows. See photo.
Select unblemished leaves, pick and wash in cold water as carefully as you would wash spinach, and drain well. If leaves are mature, remove stems. Grasp a leaf in one hand, fold with stem side up, and "strip" or pull off the stem up the length of the leaf and discard. This trick can also be used on mature spinach leaves. It makes even a large leaf extremely tender.
After washing and stemming, chop leaves crosswise into 1 inch pieces.
QUICK SORREL SOUP
In a large sauce pan, wilt 1 pound (4 cups) chopped sorrel in 1 Tablespoon olive oil.
Add 2-3 cloves crushed garlic
Add 1 quart chicken or vegetable stock (a light colored stock). If soup appears too thick, add more stock. This is not a "thick" soup like bean or lentil.
Add 1 large bay leaf
Add 1 teaspoon salt
Add 1/2 teaspoon fine grind pepper
Simmer 30 minutes.
For immediate service, cool stock slightly and process in a food processor or use your hand blender right in the cooking pot. Never pour boiling liquids into your processor---hot liquid will splash and could burn you.
Return to pot if you used the processor and reheat if necessary.
Serve in flat soup bowls with a garnish of croutons, minced sweet onion, minced scallion, or a pinch of oregano dusted on top.
Contrast the beautiful green color with a tomato or raw red or yellow bell pepper salad.
Stay tuned for our "omelet primer".
Kitchen Garden Cook
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