{"id":2645,"date":"2023-09-04T09:23:23","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T07:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/?p=2645"},"modified":"2023-09-01T11:45:08","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T09:45:08","slug":"robin-pietschs-omas-carrot-soup-with-meatballs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/04\/robin-pietschs-omas-carrot-soup-with-meatballs\/","title":{"rendered":"Robin Pietsch’s Oma’s Carrot Soup with Meatballs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The finished soup.
August 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The fall weather descended on us right on schedule, a week before Volksfest<\/a>. It’s meatball season<\/a>! It’s soup season<\/a>! Let’s get both parties started in the same pot!

Robin Pietsch is a fairly young chef from the Harz region<\/a> of Germany, a foresty, mountainy place between Leipzig and Hannover that was part of East Germany when he was a child. He leads two restaurants with Michelin stars that I have never eaten at, and is a judge and coach on the ZDF cooking contest show Die K\u00fcchenschlacht<\/a><\/em>, which we view regularly. This recipe is from his first cookbook<\/a>, a collection of “everyday” regional\/seasonal recipes he presented in MDR (tax-funded TV in Dresden), which I got out of the library.

This soup is from his grandmother Christa<\/a>, and I have assumed it is representative of meals women in East Germany cooked for their families. There is not a lot of extra seasoning, just salt and pepper, bay leaves and parsley. Because of this, I chose to splurge on ground Strohschwein<\/a><\/em>. The hogs live their whole lives in a bed of straw, and I think I can taste a difference in big cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n

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That bay leaf!
August 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Every traditional German meatball recipe starts with “leftover bread roll from the day before” and I never have one because we don’t eat rolls very often, and it’s easy to buy only what we will eat fresh. I chose to substitute panko crumbs. It’s not “authentic” but it did the job.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Panko, Strohschwein, and red onion.
August 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Roll the meat mass into walnut-sized balls while you saut\u00e9e the veggies.<\/p>\n\n\n

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I need to work on my meat photography…
August 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The recipe calls for a “bunch” of carrots, and there is really no way to know how many carrots that is by weight or volume, so I just used all the carrots I had in the house. It was not enough. Similarly, “three potatoes” could be any amount, so I just used up all the ones I had. Curiously, no celery; all Bavarian soups start with a mirepoix<\/em> because the celery roots can be stored with the onions and carrots all winter. Further research is indicated.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Vitamin A
August 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The liquid is a normal beef broth. That’s the taste of fall right there–beef broth and carrots. The balls are boiled in the soup for thirty minutes–very soft, easy clean-up.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Tastes better than it looks.
August 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The delightful kick in this soup is the “smoked sausage” garnish: this is a cuisine that understands the importance of adequate protein. I got a pair of Kabanos<\/a>, smoky and highly spiced.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Yes, please.
August 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

If that’s not your thing, it’s fine alone. You can see from this photo how many more carrots I have to use next time to call this a “carrot soup”…<\/p>\n\n\n

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Fluffig!
August 2023<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Mr Radish thought the balls could have used more seasoning…maybe next time I use some celery salt or Worcestershire sauce. I suspect back in the day Oma Christa would have had a bottle of W\u00fcrzsauce<\/em> in her kitchen for bringing the umami–not the klassenfeindliche Maggi-W\u00fcrze<\/em>, of course, but a local brand.

Meatball season! Finally meatball season!! I hope you are all as excited as I am!
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How many carrots is a “bunch”?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,16,90],"tags":[56,183,186,184,185],"class_list":["post-2645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carnevalofsoups","category-meatballmonday","category-regional-and-seasonal","tag-carrots","tag-celebrity-food","tag-ddr","tag-kuchenschlacht","tag-tv-food"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t