Ukrainian Solyanka

I traveled in Ukraine in September and I've been carrying around the idea that I'd make this awesome soup I had in a cafeteria. With all kinds of meat in a rich broth, lemons, olives, and dill, I knew my sweetie would love it. Its taken me this long, but this morning, I found a recipe on a Russian blog and we picked up all of the ingredients at Fairway this afternoon. It took me about two hours to prepare the whole thing.

Ingredients

8 cups rich meat stock
3 lb different sorts of meat (we used pork rib tips, beef ribs, and beef shank steak with bone)
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
2 pickled cucumbers (cut into 1/2 inch strips)
1/2 head of cabbage
1 cup brine
1 small can of tomato paste
2 bay leaves
25 or so black peppercorns
3 lemons
Olive oil
25 pitted olives (black and green)
2 Tbsp capers
fresh herbs (dill, parsley)

Preparation

Brown the meat (on the bone) with olive oil in a large Dutch oven
Once brown, add 8 cups of meat stock
Cover and let simmer until the meat is falling off the bone
While the meat is cooking, saute the onion and garlic until browned in a soup pot
Add the pickled cucumbers, cabbage, and tomato paste
Saute until tender
Add brine, 2 bay leaves, peppercorns and simmer for about 2 minutes
Once the meat is falling off the bone, lift it out of the Dutch over with tongs and set aside to cool off until you can handle the meat.
Shred or cut the meat into little pieces and place into the soup pot with the onion mixture
Skim the fat from the top of the meat stock and discard
Pour the soup stock into the soup pot
Shortly before serving, add chopped olives, capers, 2 Tbsp dill, and juice from one lemon
Heat
Serve with a garnish of dill, thinly sliced lemons, and sour cream on the side.

Enjoy!