I have never thought that borscht looked like a soup that I would like to eat, let alone make. But our visit to Belly changed my opinion of borscht. Brian ordered borscht for dinner and kindly let us all taste it and it was delicious. I think the color is what turned me off. Its kind of a weird color for soup - it reminds me of the soup that Renee Zellweger makes in Bridget Jones Diary (instead of using standard kitchen string for the bouquet garni, she uses red string that turns the soup pink).
We had some roasted beets leftover from our roasted beet salad, plus potatoes and carrots from our CSA, and a head of savoy cabbage from our Eugene Local Foods order - a majority of the ingredients for borscht. I bought some chicken thighs to add to the soup, but forgot about them - I bet they would be delicious.
Borscht, adapted from Local Flavors by Deborah Madison
Ingredients
1 oz dried porcini
2 leeks, diced fine - save several inches of the green part
3/4 lb potato, peeled and diced (I used a waxy yellow German butterball)
1-1/4 lbs beets (about 1 bunch), peeled and slivered
3 celery ribs, diced
1 carrot, diced
3 bay leaves
8-10 garlic cloves
1 onion, diced fine
2 Tbsp butter
3 cups shredded savoy cabbage
1 cup diced tomatoes (I used canned tomatoes)
1 Tbsp sugar
3-4 Tbsp wine vinegar
1/2 cup sour cream with 1 Tbsp horseradish
Cover porcini mushrooms with2 cups warm water and set aside.
Make vegetable stock. Wash all vegetables (except onion) really well. Add to a stock pot: 3-4 inches of leek greens, potato peels, beet peels, celery tips and bottoms, carrots tips and bottoms, and parsley stems. Add 2 bay leaves, 4 garlic cloves, and 2 tsp salt. Cover with 1o cups of water and bring to boil. Lower heat to simmer.
Melt butter in dutch oven. Add leeks, onion, celery, carrot, potatoes, cabbage, 4 garlic cloves, 1 Tbsp salt. Cover and cook over medium heat until vegetables soften, about 15-20 minutes.
Add beets, tomatoes, 1 bay leaf, sugar. Chop mushrooms and add them and their soaking liquid to dutch oven. Strain stock and add to dutch oven. Simmer for 20-30 minutes to allow beets to cook and reduce the liquid.
Serve with dollop (or dollops) of sour cream/horseradish.
Other beet recipes on this site:
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