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Passport & Plate - Granny's cold summer soup

Romania | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 5 photos

Ingredients
- yellow bean pods (I used frozen ones, but the original recipe was with large ones and fresh from the garden)
- sour cherries
- onion, carrot, sweet red pepper
- condiments (I used salt, thyme and lovage or it can be replaced with parsley)

 

How to prepare this recipe
Boil the onion, carrot and sweet red pepper, cut in big pieces. When they are almost boiled add the frozen yellow bean pods, some salt and condiments. I used only thyme at this stage. After 2 minutes add the sour cherries and let them boil for only a few minutes, just enough to leave its beautiful color and blend in the different tastes. When I turn off the heat I add some lovage leaves also for the nice aroma.
And that's it. A cold, slightly sour but very refreshing, clear soup for some hot summer lazy afternoons.

 

The story behind this recipe
This story and this recipe are a tribute to my grandmother. She was very dear to me and everybody in the family says that I am the younger version of her and this makes me so proud. This soup was made by my grandmother on our summer holidays that we used to spend on the country side. I grew up during the communist period and those were hard times.The food ratios were very strict,very limited.My parents were working in shifts and we had to be alone and unattended from time to time.For my parents it was easier to send us (I have a 2 years younger sister and a 12 years younger brother) to our grandparents during the holidays.My grandparents lived in a small village somewhere in the center Romania and the food was provided from their own garden & small animal farm.This way, we were provided with healthy food and a safe playground.Summer vacation on my grandparents ment a constant play under the sour cherry trees, splashing in a very low river crossing the village with small alleys crossed only by carriages. I still remember the smell of fresh bread from the oven every afternoon, the nice smell of tobacco fields (we were helping by stringing out the tobacco leaves),the constant arguing for the swing under one cherry tree,taking the water from the fountain and losing half of it on the way back, sleeping on the porch and trying to recognize the stars,listening to our grandfather stories about the WWII when he was in Russia.And as long as the tree had sour cherries we knew that there will be that cold soup somewhere in the summer kitchen.
This is a very easy to make soup and best to be served cold. Also, it was easy for us to serve it even by ourselves when the grandparents were busy working in the garden or at the farm.
My grandmother used fresh ingredients but I can find them fresh only during the summer in the local market, so whenever I miss her (or her soup) I go to a supermarket buy the frozen ingredients and all the memories just comes back.