Schav For a Hot Summer Day - Simple Recipe

Produce is coming in quickly in my area of the Southern Tier of New York, and it's wonderful to be able to pick from these colorful veggies.

This morning, we saw sorrel in the market and I asked my spouse to make a childhood favorite of mine - schav.

Schav is popular among Eastern European Jews, Ukranians, and Russians.  Its ingredients can vary.  The schav of my New York City childhood came in a jar and its main ingredients were sorrel leaves and egg yolks (and, of course, water).

Sorrel is a green with a tart, lemony flavor.

In the picture above, sorrel is the green third from the left. 

I've seen modern jarred schav made with spinach, but I want only sorrel.  We've tried to grow it without success.  Japanese beetles, which should be appearing any day now, love it.

The variations on schav include adding hard boiled egg yolks, lemon juice, chicken broth,  and even potatoes.  Our variation is quite simple:  sorrel, whole eggs, and water.

Wash the sorrel, cut off the stems, and chop the sorrel.  Add three cups of water to one bunch of sorrel. Simmer until tender and then cool for a few minutes.

 Beat the two eggs but don't add just yet, because you don't want to make scrambled egg soup.

What you need to do is temper the eggs.  Add, very slowly, a small amount of the sorrel/water to the eggs, stirring constantly.  I can't emphasize "very slowly" enough.

Here,most of the sorrel and liquid have been added to the egg.

Now it's time to add the egg/sorrel mixture back to the rest of the sorrel/water mix.  Stir.

Cool in the refrigerator.

This soup is served cold, with a dollop (for me, it's more than a dollop of either sour cream or fat free Greek yogurt.

I may try one of the variations (some people even put chopped scallion/green onion into the soup) one of the variations.  But for today, this will refresh me.

Do you eat cold soups?