Mum's Polish kitchen -Zupa Grzybowa (Mushroom soup)

Stan Krawczyk • 21 December 2019

Mum's Zupa Grzybowa

Mums version of Mushroom Soup (zupa grzybowa), a very simple dish but as usual preparation time means its not worth making enough just for 2!

A few notes before we begin.

Most Polish cooking is a faff and takes a fair bit of effort, its not difficult just a lot of preparation and messing such as peeling, chopping so its not worth making just a small amount for 1 person. All mums portion sizes are suitable for a family of 3 or 4 people and will last 3 to 4 days without going off. They are quite filling, healthy and wholesome you wont leave hungry trust me.
Please ensure you buy good ingredients don't skimp on meat or cheap veg.

Note to vegetarians: You can make this soup without meat replace the chicken /chicken stock with vegetable stock, otherwise everything stays the same.

Warning! No matter how many mushrooms you buy it will never be enough!

They shrink down to nothing so buy more than you think you will need.

For example this is a largish pan, I added 2x 250g boxes of mushrooms plus dried for extra flavour, once added to the pan they are right at the top, once the water boils they drop down by a third.

Ok shall we begin?

Ingredients:

500g good Chestnut or other brown mushrooms (don't buy white they have zero flavour)

1 or 2 small chicken breast or leg, whatever you like. Its just for the stock.

1 Chicken stock cube

1 packet of Polish dried mushrooms or similar Italian if available.

1 large red Onion cut into 3 sections

3-4 peeled carrots and chopped into 4

6+ Salad potatoes like Charlotte, peeled

1 large single cream (can be double but tends to split)

1 Small bunch of fresh Parsley , dried is fine also.

Dusting of Mixed herbs

Seasoning

Water

Update - Some larger Tesco's sell Hortex frozen forest mushrooms. These are a perfect replacement to the fresh ones.

Method:

Wash your hands often

Pour a glass of vino.

Select a large saucepan.

Peel the potatoes and carrots, you can leave the skin on but it tends to float off and becomes a bit slimy to eat. Drop them in the pan.

Wash the mushrooms. I find it amusing that mushrooms are already washed at the factory then placed back in soil so they look freshly picked! Now cut them into thick slices not less than 1 cm. Don't peel them, drop into the pan.

Add a handful of the dried mushrooms, as many as you like, they will swell up and really give it a flavour boost but they can be like eating old shoe leather if not boiled long enough.

Drop in the parsley as is, don't chop it.

Wash the chicken then drop in the pan. This is very much a drop it in recipe!

Add the water until about 2 inches from the top of the pan. Should the mountain of chopped mushrooms want to make a break for freedom, just reduce the water a little.

That's it, lid on and let it simmer for about 30-40 mins. The mushrooms will reduce, once in a while give it a careful stir.

Once its ready no more than an hour, you can take it off the heat and add some single cream, stirring as you do or it could split. Mum usually added Double cream which is a much nicer fuller taste but it always separates for me.

Remove the onion and the Parsley from the pan and discard, they should remain intact after the boiling.

Remove the chicken, carrot and potatoes and place on the side for a moment. Blend the contents with a hand blender (be careful its hot, but can be done later when cold) ensure its quite fine. Add the potatoes and carrots and chicken back in the pan and serve. I sometimes leave a few sliced mushrooms intact also for artistic reasons.

Add a little salt and pepper to taste and serve .

There you go Mrs Krawczyk's Polish zupa grzybowa......................simples.

Serve:

Serve in a wide rather than a small soup bowl and thick Sourdough bread slices with butter. Sprinkle some fresh chopped Dill in the middle and maybe a splash of sour cream if you like but you can get cream overload.

I only add a few potatoes with it but its actually nicer to boil the salad potatoes separately, drain, cover in butter with some Dill on a side plate, then drop them in to your plate. But each to their own.

This is good as a starter but can also be a main if you eat the chicken and potatoes and carrots with it.

Let it cool down overnight, it will taste better the next day. It should last 2 days outside of the fridge but I recommend you put it in the fridge overnight after the first day.

Transfer the amount you need for that day and warm it up in another saucepan and eat like that, don't reheat the original pan.

Traditionally served on Christmas Eve.

Smacznego (Bon appetite)

More recipes to come keep an eye and nose out for them.