Green Shchi of Young Nettles

History

Shchi — the cabbage soup at the core of Russian cookery — is among the nation's oldest dishes: cabbage soups emerged in Kievan Rus as early as the 9th century, soon after cabbage reached the East Slavic lands from Byzantium, and by the 10th century shchi had become a staple food. Cheap to grow, safe to store, and freezable in winter — a frozen block could be carried on a journey and cut up as needed — it fed every class, and its meatless forms suited the Orthodox fasting table. So elemental was it that a proverb ran «Щи да каша — пища наша» ("shchi and kasha are our food"). Molokhovets records rather than invents the dish, devoting a whole section to the shchi family — sauerkraut (кислая капуста) shchi, sour fresh-cabbage shchi, and the green spring kinds. This recipe is one of the green versions — зелёные щи of young nettles, the seasonal variant built on sorrel, spinach or nettle greens in place of cabbage. The well-off cooked such greens in a rich meat broth while peasants kept them lean and meatless; true to her gentry readership, Molokhovets enriches hers with beef, ham or sausages, a little sorrel and smetana.

Ingredients

• funt beef
• funt ham or sausages
• roots, onion, herb bundle
• tbsp flour
• tbsp butter
• funt young nettles
• stakan sour cream
• funt sorrel
• grains allspice
• bay leaf
• parsley and dill

Instructions

1. Cook and strain a white bouillon; cook turned roots separately.
2. Blanch, drain and chop young nettles; fry with onion, sorrel and browned flour.
3. Thin with broth, boil, add sour cream and meat/sausage.
4. Serve over roots, parsley and dill with the traditional accompaniments.