Cooking with sorrell

[WendyS]

We have previously only used it fresh in salads but today cooked in mixed in with a pasta sauce and it unfortunately curdled the creme fraiche sauce. Does anybody who has used it cooked, rather than raw, have any good recipes or cooking tips please? Thanks.

[sarahreiki]

Never used it myself but have a short recipe for leek and sorrel soup
1 lb leeks
3 oz chopped sorrel leaves
1 pint water
1/2 pint milk
vegetable stock cube (optional)

simmer leeks in water (with veg. stock cube). When leeks are soft and cooked add sorrel and milk bring to boil and serve.
Also got a recipe for sorrel sauce whichj is 2oz butter and a handful of leaves. melt butter. cut sorrel as finely as poss. add to melted butter and remove from heat immediately and serve (with mushroom patties)

[WendyS]

Thanks. Have got some leeks growing in my vegetable patch so will give the soup a try. Also the sauce looks quite interesting to serve with fish or chicken.

[BBWCHATT]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorrel

Says:

Common sorrel has been cultivated for centuries. The leaves may be pur�ed in soups and sauces or added to salads and shav; they have a flavor that is similar to kiwifruit or sour wild strawberries. The plant's sharp taste is due to oxalic acid, and so may be contraindicated in people with rheumatic-type complaints, kidney or bladder stones. Sorrel is also a laxative.

In the Caribbean, sorrel typically refers to Jamaican Red Sorrel or Roselle. A popular dark red sorrel beverage has a sweet, spiced flavor. Roselle is also used in tarts and jellies, and the fiber is used by craftspeople.

[BBWCHATT]

Herb Frittata
Copyright Fred Plotkin from La Terra Fortunata, Random House 2001

This is one of the real classics of this region's cuisine (Friuli-Venezia Giulia).You will find it wherever you travel, especially in the springtime when wild herbs sprout in profusion all over La Terra Fortunata. The key here is to use as large a variety of herbs, grasses, and greens as you can locate. It is traditional that there be at least 5 different types. The most famous are silene, hops, melissa, mint, verbena, basil, marjoram, sage, parsley, spinach, fennel leaves, Swiss chard, zucchini flowers, wild fennel, beet greens, chervil, sorrel, and celery leaves.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced chives or onions
1 1/2 cups fresh herbs and greens, all carefully cleaned and dried, torn into small pieces
12 large eggs
6 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons grated aged montasio cheese
Freshly ground black pepper

Butter the bottom and sides of an 8-inch nonstick skillet. Place the pan over low heat; when the butter becomes warm, add chives or onions. Heat gently, just until they give off a little fragrance. Add the herbs and greens and, if necessary, a little more butter. Stir so that all the flavors mingle.
While the greens are heating, beat the eggs, milk, flour, cheese and a little pepper into a large bowl. Add the egg mixture to the greens and stir with a fork, taking care to avoid scraping the fork along the bottom of the pan. While working with the fork in 1 hand, shake the pan continuously to prevent the frittata from sticking.
Once the frittata has a rather firm skin on the bottom, slide it out of the pan and onto a plate. Invert the frittata back into the pan so that the less-cooked side of the frittata is now face-down in the pan. Return toheat and cook for 2-3 minutes, shaking the pan continuously to

[BBWCHATT]

Sorrel Drink
Recipe courtesy Vy Higginsen

5 to 6 (1-inch) slices ginger
1 cup dried sorrel leaves
1 tablespoon cloves
Brown sugar
Red wine sherry, optional
Let cut ginger sit for 2 to 3 hours. The longer it sits the stronger it becomes. Boil ginger in 2 quarts of water. Once water is boiling, add sorrel and cloves. Boil for 30 minutes. Strain and add sugar and wine, to taste. Chill and serve.

*Sorrel is a plant that grows on trees. It is harvested around November and December and can be purchased pre-packaged from Caribbean or African stores.

[Figi]

No idea why yours curdled as I regulalry make a sauce for fish which is simply chopped sorrel sweated in butter with creme fraiche and a dash of white wine added - it never curdles. Are you sure you were using creme fraiche rather than fromage frais because the latter would curdle?

[nickmo]

Hi WS - Young leaves have the lemony flavour, and it gets more bitter as it gets older. Don't cook it in aluminium pans by the way as it reacts as does spinach, asparagus, etc......

Use it as a filling for omlette / fritata. Add to pancake batter and use to make canneloni with smoked salmon and
leek, etc.

Also, just make a basic white sauce and add the sorrell for flavour to go with fish or poultry. Got a juice machine? Add it to apple and carrot juice for a flavour addition to a smoothie.

Works well with mint, and also goes with chives in a pesto.

Use it where you want a 'sour / bitter' note in flavour....

[WendyS]

Thanks again for your interesting suggestions.

And for the comment about aluminium pans, Nickmo (which I've been using for 40 years now for all my vegetable) so perhaps I'm on track for Alkzeimers !). Can you be a little more specific about the adverse reactions / problems as I can't say I've honestly noticed any when cooking Swiss Chard in them, which I do regularly.

[Pirate1]

Oooops. Just read that as cooking with squirrel!!!!

[nickmo]

Hi WS - all very techy I'm afraid. Certain veg contain acids that react with a/min to create an environment in which it is liekly that the metal will taint the food. Unfortunately, alkalines can also cause a reaction too. Also, there are reactions that 'displace' essential minerals, such as iron, zinc, magnesium, and copper present in the foodstuffs but affected by cooking in a/min.

Extract to consider: '..the aluminum content of tomatoes increased from 1.3 mg/100 g d.w. uncooked to 32 mg/100 g d.w. following 2 hours of cooking in an aluminum pot and to 53 mg/100 g d.w. after overnight storage in the same pot....' Hmmmm. It is monomeric aluminum created by the hydrolysing of the metal - caused by a/min salts reacting to water - that is the bad guy here and will cause potential health problems in the future.

Aluminium pans can transfer the metal into the foodstuffs even more so if your water has added flouride as this concentrates the toxins. A/min has been linked to brain disorders as you state.

Incidentally, if your pans are cast a/min these are better than lightweight a/min pans and won't taint the food to the same degree.

You will be ingesting the metal anyway if you eat factory made foods like cakes, pie fillings etc as sodium aluminum phosphate, calcium aluminum silicate, sodium aluminum silicate etc are food additives used widely in food factories as basic ingredirnts in a wide range of food. Plus food stored in a/min will absorb some amount of the metal too.....Plus it is in fish, shellfish, cereals and meats due to water run off and its prescence in soil due to general weathering...

Hope that helps.....cognitive dysfunction anyone?

[nickmo]

Oh and one for the P 1 - squirrel is fine as a food as it is just another source of meat and has always been on the table in the past - get them fresh and use in stews, roasts or grill - not a lot of meat and avoid the roadkill variety - unless you do the kill bit....

[Pirate1]

Thanks for that nickmo! We are actually in the process of trying weird meat, which is why I was attracted to the squirrel question. We just tried ostrich but found it a bit bland. Pigeon was absolutely delicious. We now want to try Kangaroo but need to find a supplier.

[WendyS]

Sorry Nickmo but squirrel is definitely OFF our menu. Am far too fond of the little chap who knocks on our patio window every morning and sits there waiting patiently on the window sill for his daily allocation of nuts..