Classic polish tomato soup

This tomato soup is one of my favorites. Why? Because it's very simple to make, delicious and perfect for colder days. It can be made with an addition of rice or noodles and I prefer the latter. The main taste comes from either fresh tomatoes or tomato paste - I like both versions, but the one with tomato paste usually gets thicker and I think it makes a better comfort food in the Winter.
In my recipe I've used kritharaki pasta (also called "orzo"), but any type of pasta will be good!
Tomato soup is pretty fast to cook so I make it often when I don't have much time. If you're looking for an idea for easy, delicious and comforting dinner, then you should try my tomato soup!

Greek bean soup (Fasolada)

 

Lately it's pretty cold, even in Greece. Days like these I really enjoy food that warms you up! This bean soup (fasolada) is one of such dishes - hearty, spicy and perfect in the Winter. It's also pretty simple, just few ingredients, it doesn't need much attention and the only thing that takes time is soaking & cooking beans (unless you're using canned ones). Fasolada is one of my favourite Greek dishes - the taste is amazing, it's one of those comfort foods that we all need sometimes, especially in the cold, gloomy days!

Borscht with "uszka" (mini dumplings with mushrooms) - Polish Christmas food #3

I'm continuing my preparation for Christmas Eve dinner. In Poland, we're having a festive dinner on 24th of December - so you may say we start celebrating a day before everyone else!
This day is very special and so is the food we serve. There is twelve traditional dishes and the custom says you need to at least take a bite of every one of them!
Today's recipe - borscht with uszka is served for starters. "Uszka" are tiny dumplings stuffed with mushrooms - their name means "little ears" and it's because of their shape. This type of borscht is light, spicy and it will warm you up - necessary thing in the Winter! We make several types of borscht, but this one is different than others - clean, made only with few ingredients and no meat, as we're not eating any on Christmas Eve. Borscht is specific for a region of Poland I grew up in, in other places at that day they may serve you mushrooms soup or fish soup. 

Polish sour cucumber soup (Zupa ogórkowa)

This is one of my favourite Polish soups and I missed it greatly for a very long time. Don't get me wrong, I love Greek cuisine with all my heart - it's amazing, but - sometimes, just sometimes I get these cravings for something I grew up with.
And this time I really wanted sour cucumber soup (zupa ogórkowa)! I mean it - I was ready to make preservs myself, just to have the necessary ingredient - sour cucumbers (ogórki kiszone). But there was a problem - I couldn't find small cucumbers suitable for making this type of pickles. Not to mention branches of dill (top parts, with seeds). I was getting really desperated, but then I thought I will ask around and maybe someone knows "something". As it turned out - there is a Polish shop here in Thessaloniki! Yay! So one day I went there hoping to find my precious sour cucumbers and imagine what a wonderful moment it was when I saw them on a shelf! My precious!

So here's the recipe for a delicious, Polish sour cucumber soup - perfect for cold days - it will warm you up and fill your belly with goodness!

Cabbage soup - simple and tasty

This type of soup was very popular some years ago as a diet - yes, diet. You were supposed to eat only that soup for a week or so to lose few pounds. Now, I don't know about its effectiveness, as I'm getting bored too easily and monotonous diets are clearly not for me, but what I do know is that it is a delicious and very easy to make meal.

You just need few ingredients, throw them in a pot and about one hour later you've got your soup ready, couldn't be simpler!

Meatballs with egg-lemon sauce (Giouvarlakia)

This is one of my favourites - and one of my discoveries after I came to Greece. I guess in every country you'll find some type of meatballs, I knew for example the Polish version with tomato or dill sauce, served with mashed potatoes. Giouvarlakia was something new and captivated me with its refreshing, lemon taste of avgolemono. 

The love story between avgolemono and me started with a pinch of scepticism, as the combination of egg and lemon was a little bit exotic to me and I really wasn't sure what to expect.

After giving it a try with giouvarlakia, my attitude changed from reserved to pretty passionate about it!

Some recipes describe giouvarlakia as soup, some others make it more into meatballs with sauce - I prefer it rather thick and love to scoop out the sauce with some bread, but it's really up to you!

Spring beetroots soup (botwinka)

The spring is near and I've started craving for a certain dish my mom used to make around that time...This is a traditional polish soup, made with spring beetroots, cream - simple, delicious and perfect for not so warm spring days!