Another loose adaptation of a recipe from a book, my borscht is hopelessly bright pink and perhaps not like Sokolov's at all. How will we ever know if Sokolov is worth his ego is I never make his recipes straight? Perhaps we will never know. First the borscht recipe from Sokolov, then how I adapted it to suit my moment at hand. Unlike Sokolov, I ate my borscht warm (cold beets = gross), used the beets stalks but not the leaves, and added the flavoring directly.
I served this borscht at Mormon Med Student Dinner, and no one really ate it except T., who lived for a summer in Russia and knows her borscht. I'm stuck with the leftovers, but I'm loving it. Nothing is cheerier for the soul than inhaling bright red beets during Valentine's week in the middle of winter.
SOKOLOV
Ingredients:
2 dozen medium beets with their greens
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Sour Cream
Snipped dill leaves
Directions:
1. Cut off the beet greens and wash thoroughly. Chop into 2-inch lengths. Peel and slice the beets.
2. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add the beets and greens. Stir in the lemon juice, salt to taste, add the sugar. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the beets are tender but not mushy.
3. Remove the greens and reserve for use as a vegetable. Let the soup cool completely, and then chill.
4. Serve well chilled. Pass the sour cream and dill separately.
Serves 10
ME
Ingredients:
4 large beets with their beet stalks and greens
1 onion, diced
4 green onion stems, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Nutmeg
Mace
Cinnamon
1/2 cup half and half
1/4 cup sour cream
Directions:
1. Cut off the beet greens and discard. Cut off the beet stalks at the base and cut into 2-inch pieces lengthwise. Peel and slice the beets.
2. Add 8 cups of water to a large pot and boil. While waiting to boil, saute 1 diced onion and beet stalks in olive oil.
3. When water is at a boil, add beets, beet stalks, and onions. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the beets are tender but not mushy. Add the green onions and stir in.
4. Pour contents of pot into a blender and blend on high long enough to produce a mostly (but not entirely) pureed soup.
5. Pour blended soup back into pot, add lemon juice, sugar, salt, and generous dashes of the remaining spices. Go easy on the pepper. Add the half and half and immediately stir in to avoid curdling. Stir in sour cream.
6. Serve warm.
Should serve 8-10.
(Like all my vegetables, my borscht has some flavor from the spicing. Sokolov seems to favor a less interesting palette with his vegetables, so if you don't like spices you may want to try Sokolov's version, or mine minus the mace, nutmeg, etc. The cream gives the borscht a feeling of comfort and luxury most likely absent from the traditional Russian borscht, which is a peasant staple.)
I served this borscht at Mormon Med Student Dinner, and no one really ate it except T., who lived for a summer in Russia and knows her borscht. I'm stuck with the leftovers, but I'm loving it. Nothing is cheerier for the soul than inhaling bright red beets during Valentine's week in the middle of winter.
SOKOLOV
Ingredients:
2 dozen medium beets with their greens
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Sour Cream
Snipped dill leaves
Directions:
1. Cut off the beet greens and wash thoroughly. Chop into 2-inch lengths. Peel and slice the beets.
2. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add the beets and greens. Stir in the lemon juice, salt to taste, add the sugar. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the beets are tender but not mushy.
3. Remove the greens and reserve for use as a vegetable. Let the soup cool completely, and then chill.
4. Serve well chilled. Pass the sour cream and dill separately.
Serves 10
ME
Ingredients:
4 large beets with their beet stalks and greens
1 onion, diced
4 green onion stems, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Nutmeg
Mace
Cinnamon
1/2 cup half and half
1/4 cup sour cream
Directions:
1. Cut off the beet greens and discard. Cut off the beet stalks at the base and cut into 2-inch pieces lengthwise. Peel and slice the beets.
2. Add 8 cups of water to a large pot and boil. While waiting to boil, saute 1 diced onion and beet stalks in olive oil.
3. When water is at a boil, add beets, beet stalks, and onions. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the beets are tender but not mushy. Add the green onions and stir in.
4. Pour contents of pot into a blender and blend on high long enough to produce a mostly (but not entirely) pureed soup.
5. Pour blended soup back into pot, add lemon juice, sugar, salt, and generous dashes of the remaining spices. Go easy on the pepper. Add the half and half and immediately stir in to avoid curdling. Stir in sour cream.
6. Serve warm.
Should serve 8-10.
(Like all my vegetables, my borscht has some flavor from the spicing. Sokolov seems to favor a less interesting palette with his vegetables, so if you don't like spices you may want to try Sokolov's version, or mine minus the mace, nutmeg, etc. The cream gives the borscht a feeling of comfort and luxury most likely absent from the traditional Russian borscht, which is a peasant staple.)
1 comment:
You threw away the best part of the beets. If you didn't want to use the leaves in the soup, you could have cooked them later the same way you fix chard or spinach. Chard and spinach are good, but beet greens are the best.
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