Adventures in Vegetarian Cooking

So, there are a lot of crappy vegetarian recipes out there. I don't know if vegetarians have completely lost sight of what is tasty? Judging from the Tofurkey brand (which is the most disgusting tasting brand on earth) - it appears as if they have. I love to cook so I've been toying around with perhaps collecting some tried and tasty vegetarian recipes that I've altered or come up with or found online.

Our first installment is - Wegetarianski Krupnik (Vegetarian Krupnik)

For those of you who don't know Krupnik is a Polish soup made with vegetables, sometimes meat, and always with barley. Everyone makes it differently... as is the case with every Polish culinary item there is. People have arguements over these things (see the Gabby and Sam kopytka debate of 2002... I still retain that putting sugar on kopytka is blasphemy.)

I took this recipe from a cookbook entitled "Polish Cooking" (riveting, I know.) Anyhow, I surprised to find that the recipe itself was already vegetarian. The recipe called for pearl barley, and I did make it with the tiny barley, however I'm going to suggest buying the regular sized barley. Also, the recipe wanted me to cook the barley for 2 hours. It didn't take NEARLY that much time. I cooked the barley until it was done soaking up the liquid and fully cooked which took about 45 minutes. My mom said that you can just throw the raw barley into the soup and have it cook that way. I might try that next time. Also, please do not omit the smoked paprika, its the secret ingredient! It lends a smoky meaty flavor... totally tastes like you've had bacon simmering away in the soup.

Wegetarianski Krupnik

Ingredients:
2 carrots, diced
1/2 celery root (its terribly difficult to chop... so I just threw the whole thing in there after peeling it.)
1 parnip, diced
2 potatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
1 T butter
2 T sour cream
4 T barley
1/2 T butter
1 t smoked paprika
salt
chopped fresh parsley leaves

Wash and strain the grits. Place in a heavy bottomed pan and add 1/2 T butter cover with cold water (about 1/2 liter) and cook. Stir from time to time while cooking. Meanwhile, boil the vegetables in 2 liters of boiling water (seasoned with about a T of salt) for about one hour. Add the cooked barley to the vegetable stock and season with salt and smoked paprika. Remove about a 1/2 cup of the vegetable stock and whisk with sour cream. Place sour cream mixture back into the soup. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.