“Ciorba” Turkey Soup – AIP and Paleo

Romanian cuisine is my favorite out of all the East-European cuisines. It is my national cuisine and because I appreciate it so much, I made a couple of tests in turning some of my favorite Romanian recipes into dishes that are AIP and Paleo Friendly.

In this article we’re going to talk about the Romanian traditional soup, which is called “ciorba” in Romanian. The “Ciorba” is a soup with diced pieces of meat and vegetables that we consume in Romania very often – almost on a daily basis. What we like the best about it is that it’s packed with lots of vitamins, it’s served as hot as one can resist and it’s made from all organic ingredients. In Romania we use the farmer’s market very much because it offers 100% natural produce and meat from small farms that don’t use any additives.

So here’s my AIP reinterpretation of the Romanian turkey “ciorba” 🙂

Here's are the ingredients I used:

• 1 lb diced turkey meat (I use chest)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 white onion – chopped
• 1 zucchini – diced
• 3 liters filtered water
• 2 carrots – chopped
• 1 cup mushrooms – diced
• 1/4 celery root – chopped
• 1 medium parsnip – chopped
• 1 handful parsley
• 1 Tbsp Himalayan salt

And here's how I prepared my delicious turkey "ciorba":

• I used a larger pan and heated the olive oil on medium heat, then added in the onion, and stewed it for 1 min until it turned glossy. I then added in the diced turkey, mushrooms, chopped carrots, chopped, parsnip and chopped celery root and stewed together for another 8-10 minutes until they all combined. I stirred continuously to avoid anything sticking to the pan.
• After they all cooked together for 10 min, I added in all the water and the salt and let everything cook on medium heat for another 10 minutes.
• I then added in the diced zucchini and set the heat to medium-high and let the ciorba soup cook for another 10 minutes, or until the zucchini was tender (test with a fork).
• I removed the pot from heat and added in the fresh parsley for extra flavor.

The “ciorba” soup is served as hot as you can handle and you can store it in the fridge and serve for another 2-3 days.

I was very satisfied with my AIP reinterpretation of the traditional Romanian ciorba and to be completely honest, this is one of the dishes I highly recommend for the main course. Why? Well, because it contains just about everything the body needs for a daily first course.

I hope you enjoy the ciorba as much as I do and that you’ll let me know if you have any questions! 🙂

Zucchini Avocado Cream Soup – AIP and Paleo

One of my favorite AIP cream soups is the green Zucchini-Avocado one. It’s incredibly easy to make, you basically just need a medium-large pot, a blender and some basic kitchenware.

Enough with the introduction, let’s do some AIP green soup!!!

Here are the ingredients I used:

3 zucchini

1 red onion

4 garlic cloves

1 ripe avocado

2 cups bone broth (beef or chicken)

1 Tbsp lemon zest

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp dry oregano

1 tsp dry basil

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp Himalayan salt (you can use any salt but since I’m hyperthyroid I do avoid iodine)

And here's how I made it:

I peeled the zucchini and cut them into square small pieces and I minced the garlic and onion.

I added the olive oil in a medium-large pot over medium heat and cooked the garlic and onion for 5 minutes until they became softer. Then I added in the zucchini pieces and the spices (salt, oregano, basil, garlic powder) and I let everything cook on medium heat for another 10 minutes).

I then added in the bone broth and set the heat to high bringing to a boil. After it boiled once, I turned the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for another 20 minutes.

I let it cool down for about 10 minutes and then I added in a mashed avocado to the soup and also added in the lemon zest.

I then put it into the blender and mixed it on high speed for about one minute until it turned smooth and creamy. If the blender is too small for all the soup, you can do the blending in two steps.

It can be served with small pieces of raw vegetables (carrot, cucumber, green onion) or you can also serve with minced bacon if you’re a bacon kinda person 🙂 

Enjoy!