Not everyone is as lucky as we are to have Marcel and Edith living nearby. Not just because they are wonderful neighbours. Marcel and Edith are organic farmers and yesterday Marcel arrived with a big bag of beetroot along with an enormous white cabbage! When I saw the beetroot I knew immediately what I was going to do today! Yes folks with fresh beetroot it has to be borsch!
Funnily enough when I mentioned this to Marcel he seemed unaware of this wonderful Ukrainian dish. Many of our neighbours grow the beetroot as a staple food for their rabbits! The rabbits thrive on this vegetable and the result is the most wonderful rabbit pate on earth but that is a story for another day!!
Anyone who has been to Ukraine will know that everyone has their own special recipe for making borsch. Not only that but each one swears by their dead grandmother that their recipe is the most unique, the most superior with secret variations and processing methods. This is because beetroot, despite it's dramatic blood colours, cooked on it's own is rarely a treat. Fantastic as a salad. As a soup it demands time and treatment. However with the addition of a few basic vegetables and herbs it can become the king of soups! The texture and taste of borsch will vary depending on the cooking time.
I am making borsch for four people the traditional way. I learned the recipe from a lovely Ukrainian lady we know called Elena who lives in Chernivtsy - a beautiful historic town in the south west of the country about four hours drive from Kiev.
Ingredients:
5 x fresh beetroot
1 x white cabbage
3 x onions
4 x smoked sausages
4 x carrots
2 x potatoes
1 x garlic
1 x bunch of chives
2g x horseradish
1g x black peppercorns
1 x teaspoon of salt
1 x home made stock (half litre)
2 x litres of water
First place a large saucepan containing water and the home made stock on the stove. Cut and peel and dice five large fresh beetroot. Cut peel and dice two potatoes, four carrots, 3 onions, 1 garlic and shred one small white cabbage. Have some grated horseradish and cut chives prepared for addition later. Add the smoked sausages and diced vegetables to the saucepan and allow to cook slowly. Add salt and peppercorn. Add the shredded cabbage and horseradish once the soup has come to the boil but turn down and allow to simmer slowly for one and a half hours. This will bring out the delightful taste and wonderful colour of the beetroot.
Serve direct to the soup bowl with a sprinkle of chives and a dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche.
This is a great winter soup. It is not only exceedingly tasty but the colour being a deep red is probably the most dramatic colour you can have on a plate. Coupled with a sausage and the dollop of cream or crème fraiche, it certainly deserves to be called "Soup of the Tsars"
