Soljanka- soup with roasted peppers and pickled gherkins

I made this soup a long time ago and posted it at Sortedfood. It is a recipe from the former German Democratic Republic. My former coworker came from East Berlin and after the fall of the wall she came with her husband to Frankfurt in Hesse. We worked together for 1 year until she retired. This was her favourite recipe.

Pickled vegetables were a staple in the former GDR. Many had gardens and grown their own veggies. This soup uses somes of these.

The Bologna sausage I used was made from chicken. This was the sugestion from my co worker. But use what ever kind of mild sausage you can get. This soup was often made with leftover cold cuts from different kinds of meat. Throw them in a soup, don't waste them.

Recipe for 3:

400 g Bologna sausage

1 large potato, 1 red onion, 2 garlic cloves, 6 cherry tomtoes

2 tbsp paprika paste, 2 bay leaves, 1/2 tsp allspice, salt, pepper, 800 ml chicken stock

1 jar Letscho (roasted peppers in tomato sauce), 60 g pickled gherkins, 1 tbsp oil

3 toast slices in butter, 3 tbsp sour cream, parsley

Cut the sausage in bite size pieces, the potatoes in cubes and onion and garlic in strips. Cut the cherry tomatoes once. Heat oil in a pot and toss it all in. Cook for 5 min and stir often. Add paprika paste and season.

Pour in the chicken stock and add the bay leaves. Cook for 15 min.

Now add chopped gherkins and the jar of Letscho. Cook for 5 more min.

Toast the bread chunks in butter and chop parsley. Ladle soup in bowls, add parsley and croutons and top with sour cream.