No, I’m not pregnant again, thank you very much.

I just love pickles. And soups. And this brilliant combination of the two.

My Polish friend M. is the one who introduced me to this dish. M. is a medical professional, a talented musician, a great cook and an all around funny guy. He has this goofy, unexpected sense of humor that sends everyone around the table howling in laughter after one of his razor sharp cracks.

One spoon into M’s pickle soup and I knew I was in love. I asked and got the recipe and proceeded, as I cannot help myself, to tweak it to my (yours too!) convenience. I omitted the real chicken legs he puts in his soup, added some peppercorns to perk up the flavour and made my version in the slow cooker, just so that I could take a nap.

This soup is creamy, comforting and perky all at the same time thanks to the pickles. Bring it on.

Slow Cooker Polish Pickle Soup

Ingredients:

4 cups diced, peeled potatoes
2.5 cups dill pickles, diced or sliced
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup pickling liquid from the jar, depending on how “pickley” you want your broth to taste
4 cups chicken (or vegetable) broth
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 finely chopped onion
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
3 Tbsp butter
1 cup sour cream

Preparation:

1. In the slow cooker, combine potatoes, pickles, pickling liquid, broth and peppercorns.
2. In a microwave safe bowl, combine onion, flour and butter. Microwave on high for 2 minutes, mix well and return to the microwave for 2 minutes more. The onions should be translucent, the butter melted and the flour clinging to the buttery onions.
3. Scoop a ladleful of the broth mix into the bowl af onions, mix well to loosen up the flour mixture and make sure it wont lump up on you. Add the bowl’s content to the slow cooker and mix well.
4. Cook on low for 6-7 hours (or on high for about 4 hours), until the potatoes are fork tender but not falling apart. Gradually add sour cream while stirring constantly.