Russia

 This winter seems to be dragging on longer than it should so I thought I'd give a culinary shout out to folks who spend more time in winter than any other season. Russian cuisine is fairly simple and robust, though a tad single-noted as far as I've experienced. Today's dish is called Rassolnik and it is literally a dill pickle based beef soup. I love dill pickles-- so much, in fact, that I used to get them for Christmas! This was an easy, fairly quick soup to make but I'll probably just eat a pickle if I'm craving this much salt again. 

Technically, the meat in this soup is beef or pork kidneys, but I used beef soup bones since my town doesn't generally have organ meats available. It is also, apparently, a favorite hangover cure in its homeland. 

Take beef or pork kidneys (or bones) and simmer them in water for at least 1 hr. Add a handful of barley after the water begins to simmer and stir on occasion to prevent burning. Vary your bones to water ratio depending on how much soup you'd like. 

After an hour, remove the meat and dice it into bite sized chunks. Replace meat in broth. Add 1-2 Tbsp salt. 

Dice 1 full cup of dill pickles and sautée them briefly in oil (2-3 minutes) before adding them and 1 cup of pickle juice to the broth. Dice 1 medium potato and add it to the broth. 

Sweat 1 chopped carrot, 1 chopped stalk celery, and 1/2 yellow onion (chopped) for 10 minutes. Add to soup. Add a bay leaf if you have one, it might help add some depth to the soup. Simmer an additional 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Serve with a spoonful of sour cream and additional dill to garnish (which I didn't have).