Herr Falschgold kocht

For 10 eaters

Ingridients (roughly..)

• 2 jars pickles (around 500g), preferable two or three differnt kinds. If you’re in Germany, get “Senfgurken” (mustard cucumbers), which are peeled, quite soft and on the sweet side and “Dillgurken” (dill cucumbers), slices of cucumber, pickled with dill and unusual sweet (and sour). Avoid garlicky pickles.
• 2 onions
• 4 leeks
• 4 potatoes
• mid size package frozen peas (200g)
• 20 Eggs (really..)
• neutral oil and/or butter

Chop the onions and sweat them in oil/and or butter on very low heat. Add the leeks, which should be chopped into quarters of rings, which is easy: cut away the green stuff, then make a long cut from the stem to the tip of the leek, but leave the lowest inch of the stem intact. Do the same again after turning the leek 90 degrees (lengthwise, how else?). Now You can open up the leek like a pony’s tail. Wash it carefully. Wash it again. Now chop rings from the top of the leek and you get quarter rings.  Peel the potatoes and cut them in small pieces, add them to the onions and leeks. (If you have no meathaters as your guests, add a handful lardons)

Keep the heat very low. Try to sweat the vegetables for half an hour without browning. The longer, the tastier the soup will get.

Now cover with water, add salt, pepper, the peas, turn on the heat and bring to boil.

Strain the Pickles. STOP. Keep the liquids, we’ll need them in a minute. Chop the pickles if necessary, add them to the soup. Let cook slowly for 10 minutes.

Taste.

Tastes like vegetable soup? Add pickle liquids. But be careful, we don’t want to get it to sour. So, just a sip, stir, taste. Still like vegatable soup? Add pickle liquids. Taste again. If it gets to sour, add water, if it is way to sour, try to save the soup with sugar, but try to avoid this in the first place.

Let cook for 5 minutes, add salt if neccessary. Take away two cups of the soup, process, add back to give it some opacity. Add garden herbs if on hand (parsley, chives, cress, frozen is fine)

Turn off the heat, from now on, the soup must not bubble anymore, as we are adding whole eggs now.

Get a cup and 20 eggs (2 per person, more if you like). Crack one egg into the cup. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Let it slowly sink into the soup. Repeat 20 times, for each egg try to find a place in the soup which isn’t occupied yet. (BTW, this is THE time to learn how to crack an egg with one hand )

Close the lid and wait at least half an hour, as the eggs need to get solid. Do not turn on the heat!

Serve, putting at least one egg into each bowl. Praise my Grandma.