Skip to content

Soupe à l'oseille

Sorrel and potato soup

Soupe à l'oseille: French sharp sorrel and potato soup enriched with egg yolk

Soupe à l'oseille is an old country soup made in French homes in spring and early summer, when sorrel grows back in the vegetable garden, and served at supper with bread. The lemony leaves melt in butter into a khaki purée, then simmer with potatoes and are finished with an egg yolk and cream, which softens the sharpness into a silky, tangy soup. The common mistake is letting the soup boil after adding the yolk, which scrambles it. Chef's tip: cut the sorrel into ribbons and melt it in butter first; it collapses in a minute and releases all its flavour.
Total time
35 min
Difficulty
easy
Serves
4
One step at a time, big text, timers, read-aloud. Your screen stays on.

Ingredients

Serves4

Shop this recipe on Amazon

What you'll need

Fresh ingredients (3)

Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.

Method

0/3 done
  1. Step 1: Melt the 1 oz butter and soften the 1 onion for 4 minutes. Add the 5 ½ oz sorrel leaves and stir for 1 minute until it melts into a dark green purée.

    5 min
  2. Step 2: Add the 1 ⅛ lb baking potatoes, 4 ¼ cups vegetable stock and ¾ tsp salt and simmer for 15–18 minutes until the potatoes are soft. Blend roughly or until smooth.

    18 min
  3. Step 3: Whisk the 1 egg yolk and 3 tbsp crème fraîche in a bowl with a ladle of soup, stir it back in off the heat and warm gently, stirring, until slightly thickened; do not let it boil. Season with 1 pinch black pepper.

    3 min

Nutrition per serving

Calories
210 kcal
Protein
5 g
Carbs
22 g
Fat
11 g
Fibre
3 g

Nutrition values are estimates.

K
Recipe by

KrazyBadal

All recipes by this chef →

Good to know

How long does soupe à l'oseille take?
About 35 minutes in total: 10 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
How many people does it serve?
4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
Is it vegetarian?
Yes. It has no meat or fish.
Is it gluten free?
Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
What can I use instead of butter?
The same weight of ghee or coconut oil (for frying and most baking).
What can I use instead of onion?
2 shallots per onion.

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.

Rate this recipe

Sign in to rate and review this recipe.

Tiyula itumBlack beef soup

Tiyula itum, 'black soup', is the pride of the Tausug people of Sulu in the far south of the Philippines, cooked for weddings, Eid celebrations and when guests come home. Beef (it is a halal, pork-free dish) is simmered with ginger, lemongrass and turmeric, then darkened with pamapa itum, a paste of grated coconut toasted until almost black and pounded with spices. The broth looks dramatic but tastes smoky, earthy and gently peppery, with heat from chillies. Serve it with plain rice. Chef's tip: toast the coconut slowly, stirring all the time, until it is very dark brown but not ashy; burnt-to-ash coconut tastes bitter and ruins the soup.

by KrazyBadal 2 views

Ful nabitSprouted fava bean soup

Sprouted beans are ladled out with their cooking liquor in Cairo homes when the weather turns cold or someone is feeling run down, and Egyptians swear by the broth as a pick-me-up. The beans are soaked and left to sprout for a few days, then simmered with onion, garlic and cumin into a light, earthy soup that is sharpened at the table with plenty of lemon. You can eat the beans with a spoon or pop them from their skins. Allow 3 to 4 days for sprouting, although the hands-on work is only about 20 minutes. People with G6PD deficiency (favism) must not eat fava beans. Chef's tip: stop the sprouting when the shoots are about 1 cm long; longer sprouts taste grassy and bitter.

by KrazyBadal 2 views

Sandwich grecKebab baguette

In Paris, a "grec" is the late-night kebab sandwich named after the Greek-run shops that first sold it in the Latin Quarter. On rue de la Huchette and rue Saint-André-des-Arts near Saint-Michel, students queue after a night out for crusty bread or pitta stuffed with meat shaved from a turning spit, lettuce, tomato and onion, a garlicky white sauce, and, the Paris touch, a handful of fries pushed right inside. This home version marinates chicken thighs in spiced yoghurt, sears them hard and slices them thin, with oven fries. It contains milk, egg (in the mayonnaise) and wheat. Chef's tip: slice the meat thinly across the grain after resting; thick chunks don't feel like a grec.

by KrazyBadal 2 views