Monday 6 August 2012

Don't quarrel with sorrel

What a rubbish post title, sorry, couldn't think of anything else that rhymed with sorrel.  Anyway never mind that; to the topic at hand.  We'd been enjoying plenty of sorrel in salads but I fancied cooking it, and found a really simple sauce recipe from good ol' Hugh F and set out to make poached eggs with sorrel sauce for a weekend breakfast.



Apparently there are two kinds of sorrel out there, Rumex acetosa and Rumex scutatis, or French sorrel.  Which kind have we grown? Not too sure to be honest, but R. Scutatis is meant to be milder, so on that basis I reckon we've got R. acetosa as I find it hard to imagine that there is a more assertive strain than the one we've got.  It's bracingly acidic stuff.

In some butter, it soon wilts down just like spinach, from a great mound of raw leaf into a pleasingly squelchy green mess.




Look at the state of that cooker top.  Good job my mum doesn't know how to use the internet...

A good dash of cream, some salt and pepper and hey presto, sorrel sauce.  Muffin, poached eggs, breakfast.



It tasted pretty good, and went well with the eggs, but I reckon it might be just a bit too tangy for this time of day. Maybe half-and-half with spinach would be good.  Or maybe in future I'd do this sauce with grilled mackerel, where the acid would go really well with the oily fish.  There's plenty more sorrel where this came from, so we won't be short of ways to try it.  Next up, sorrel soup I think.  Any good recipes?

8 comments:

  1. This isn't something I've ever tasted but I don't like spinach so maybe it wouldn't be to my taste.

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    1. Hi Sue; it has a similar texture to spinach, and does something similar when you heat it, but the taste is nothing like it. It's so lemony. Apparently wood-sorrel grows wild all over the place, wish I could tell it apart from all the other weeds out there.

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  2. I've got red sorrel and I don't like it very much as it is very bitter, but I hadn't thought of trying to cook it. Might give it a go if I can find some that hasn't gone to seed.

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    Replies
    1. Red sorrel sounds interesting; is it fully red in colour or red-tinged?

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  3. I have a packet of sorrel seeds somewhere. I may try them next year. The sorrel/spinach mix sounds nice.

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    Replies
    1. Go for it! It grew so easy, it would be quite good in borders, or as ground cover to keep weeds down I reckon.

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    2. Go for it! It grew so easy, it would be quite good in borders, or as ground cover to keep weeds down I reckon.

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  4. I have never grown sorrel...something new to try next year I think...hopefully I mange to get some spinach going then too!!

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