Recipe: Ukrainian Rosolnyk Kidney Soup

This is a nutritious and tasty soup with a subtle touch of mild tartness. Use home-made pickles cured by fermentation without vinegar. You could use a kosher pickle if you don't have pickles without vinegar.

1 cup mixed diced vegetables (carrot, celery, parsley root, onion)
1 small potato, diced
6 cups soup stock
1 veal kidney
1 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
2 medium dill pickles
1 tablespoon or more sour cream
Salt and pepper
Chopped dill

Cook the vegetables in the soup stock until tender. While the vegetables are cooking, split the kidney lengthwise, remove the fat and gristle, and then soak it briefly in cold water. Pat the kidney dry and cut into very thin slices or dice it.

Cook the onion in the butter until barely tender. Add the kidney and cook for only a few minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the pieces and mix well. Pour some soup liquid, stir, and simmer gently for about 10 minutes.

Add the kidney mixture to the soup. Dice the dill pickles on a plate to save their juice and stir into the soup. Add the cream, season to taste, and bring to a boil. If the soup lacks tartness, use some squeezed juice from another pickle. Garnish with the dill. Serve with pyrizhky.