Hot soups for cold days

LEMON SOUP
Citrininė sriuba

¾ cups rice
2 cups light cream
1 Tbsp butter
2 qts soup stock (chicken is best)
4 egg yolks
Juice of 1 lemon
In tightly covered pan cook washed rice with butter and several table- spoons of the soup stock. Beat egg yolks till light, adding cream. Pour warm soup stock slowly into egg. Add lemon juice. Heat, do not boil. Add cooked rice. Serve hot with very thin lemon slices.

VEGETABLE CHOWDER
Daržovių sriuba

3 cups diced potatoes
2 cups diced carrots
½ lb. diced meat (your choice)
1 cup diced onion
1 green pepper, diced
2 Tbsps flour
2 cups milk
2 cups canned tomatoes
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Cover potatoes and carrots with water or stock and cook until tender. Saute meat, onion and green pepper about 5 min., but not brown. Add flour and blend. Add milk and cook 5 min., stirring constantly until smooth. Add remaining ingredients. Serve at once. Serves 6-8.

MUSHROOM SOUP
Grybų sriuba

2 Tbsps butter
5 medium potatoes (about 2 lb. weight) peeled and cut into
¾ ” dice
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, washed and cut into fine dice. Retain leaves to cut up as herb for garnish
3 bay leaves
3 whole allspice berries, crushed
13 oz. can evaporated milk
7 cups chicken stock
1 lb. mushrooms, quartered and thinly sliced
Fresh dill, chopped Melt butter in soup pan. Add potatoes, onion and celery, turn in butter and cook slowly for about 8 min. until veggies are softened slightly. Add chicken stock, bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 10 min. Put bay leaves and allspice berries in coffee filter bag and tie closed with string. If you don’t have allspice, try a pinch of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg in the filter bag. Add to pan with sliced mushrooms, return to boil, cover and simmer for 45 min. Note that wild mushrooms often stay firmer than cultivated. Add evaporated milk, bring to a simmer and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with chopped celery leaves and chopped fresh dill and plenty of bread. Note that this is a very low fat recipe with only 2 Tbsps butter (substitute olive oil if you want), and you can use evaporated skimmed milk. Don’t place the potatoes in cold water as it will rinse out the starch which acts as a thickening agent for the soup.

Raimonda Braddock’s “cepelinai” recipe We have had several “cepelinai” (potato dumplings) recipes in the past, but this one sent to us by Raimonda Braddock is somewhat different. Instead of using meat or varške (farmers cheese) as filling, she uses sauerkraut. Hmm… sounds delicious.

POTATO DUMPLINGS W/SAUERKRAUT
Cepelinai su raugintų kopūstų ądaru

½ lb. bacon, finely chopped
1 lb. sauerkraut
8 large potatoes (4-5 lbs.), peeled
1½ Tbsps corn starch
1 egg
1 Tbsp salt
In a large skillet, fry bacon until lightly brown. Reduce heat to low. Meanwhile, place sauerkraut into sieve and wash. Let it drain. Add it to the skillet with bacon. Mix. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 30 min. or until sauerkraut is soft, mixing occasionally. Boil 2 of the potatoes until done. Drain and mash very well. Let it cool. Grate rest of raw potatoes. Place it into a cheesecloth and squeeze it dry preserving the liquid. Place the grated raw potatoes into the mashed potatoes and mix. Set the liquid aside for 15 to 20 min. and let the starch settle to the bottom. Pour the liquid off and add the freshly formed potato starch to the potato mixture. Add corn starch, salt and egg. Knead until all ingredients are well blended. Take approximately egg-size portions of the mixture and form into patties (wet your hands if the mixture is too sticky). Place tablespoon of sauerkraut mixture into the middle of each pattie. Close around the filling, forming ovoid shapes. Place cepelinai into salted boiling water and boil on medium heat for 15-20 min. Remove with slotted spoon. Serve with butter and sour cream.