My Sochi preparations continue with a recipe for Borsch. One can not partake in the Olympic Games hosted by Russia without Borsch. (translated
from a Soviet cookbook*)
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| Borsch in progress |
2 medium size (about
the size of a tennis ball) Beets, all greens removed, shredded
2-3 Red Potatoes,
diced into large chunks
3 fat whole Carrots,
or a bag of baby carrots
1 large Onion, diced
½ head of Cabbage,
shredded
3 large Tomatoes,
whole
1 green Pepper, diced
Bouquet Garni (with
bay leaves)
White Vinegar (a
splash, to keep the color and knock the sweetness down)
Boiling Water
Salt
1t Whole Peppercorns
Fresh Dill and Sour Cream
to garnish
Cut Beef into chunks
and put in a pot with enough water to cover the beef, no more. Boil. As soon as
it boils (lots of foam), dump into a colander and rinse the meat out. Rinse out
pot, put beef back, fill with fresh water. Add Peppercorns and Bouquet Garni.
In another pot – double
the size of your meat pot – add Onion and Green Pepper and sauté with some
butter.
Add Carrots (cut into
large chunks if you want to discard later, or shredded if you want to eat
them). Add about 1/2C of Broth from the meat pot (so the vegetables will not
burn). Cook for about 10-15 minutes while you shred the Beets.
Add shredded Beets.
Blanche whole
Tomatoes, peel. Dice. (you can substitute a can of diced tomatoes here, just
make sure it’s high quality) Add to pot. Add more broth.
Add the vinegar. Stir very well to distribute. Check
on meat, it should be getting soft.
Add Cabbage. (You can
skip the cabbage if you don’t like being bloated – KB)
Keep cooking both the
vegetables and meat until meat is soft. Remove meat and set aside. Add left
over broth from the meat pot into the vegetable pot.
Add Potatoes. Shred
the Beef with two forks, it should resemble pulled pork. Add the shredded Beef
back into borsch. Stir the whole pot.
Taste, add salt to
taste. If the ratio of ingredients to liquid is too thick, add boiling water to
dilute. Cook until potatoes are soft. Turn it off, you’re done!
Do NOT eat right away,
it needs to sit and think about being borsch for several hours. Absolute best
if eaten the next day.
Serve with a dollop of
sour cream and fresh dill sprinkled on top.
Serves 8.
*During Soviet times
there was only one cookbook How to Eat Nutritiously. It covered every
possible food from baby food to caviar, from a simple peasant family meal to a
state dinner. It came in only two editions: one with ingredients measured in
grams, and the other in buckets. (Family and army). My parents still have the
book, its pages are yellow and the spine is falling off, but it still holds
most unimaginable magical Russian recipes.
Priyatnovo Apetita!
Priyatnovo Apetita!