I was cold, so I made soup.
I’m fascinated by the regional variation in borscht. It’s as much a concept as it is a food. This one is vegetarian, using parsnips, potatoes, carrots, onion, and of course the most ideal of ingredients, beets. For the stock I used parsnip, mirepoix, fennel, bay leaves, garlic, and peppercorns. Finished with a dill yoghurt sauce.
Borscht has no right being as good as it is. Sweet? With my savory? But fifteen million babushkas are right.
Recipe please that looks amazing
Any visual allure is a testament to beets.
I cooked this based on vibes using what I had on hand, I only bought the beets and the dill, but here’s the gist.
- 3 parts beets, peeled and julienned
- 1 part carrot, peeled and fine julienned
- 1 part parsnip, peeled and julienned
- 1 part yellow onion, julienned
- 1 part Yukon gold potato, cut into thin wedges, skin on, not much thicker at their widest point than the matchstick cuts
- Butter
Vegetable stock
Red wine vinegar, to taste
——
In a thick bottomed pot on medium heat, sweat the beets, carrots, parsnips, onion, and potato in butter until the onions are translucent. A little color is okay, but they don’t need to brown.
Barely cover with stock, simmer, and cover. Simmer until the veg is soft and the broth has taken on the color of the beets, stirring occasionally, some ten to fifteen minutes.
Finish with a splash of vinegar. Portion and garnish as desired.
——
I used four small-ish beets, three quarters of a pretty big onion, one average carrot, two small parsnips, and five small thin skinned potatoes. Probably a liter of stock. Even if my average and your average don’t match, the ratios are after the knife work, so more or less by weight. I finished with about 20ml of vinegar for the whole pot. The acidity helps the sweetness of the beets pop. It yielded around two liters.
To me only the beets and potato are strictly necessary. Throw in other vegetable and, in a fight, the beets will win.
The carrot being cut thinner is not a typo, I like how they cook down when they’re a bit thinner.
What region is this from?
Never seen that much sour cream on it before!
I think the cream, here, is an optical illusion. It’s two parts skyr and one part heavy cream, shaken with dill and a little salt, so thinner than actual sour cream, and it melted into the broth as I plated it. It’s probably only 30-40ml of dairy.
I would plate it with a shameful amount of sour cream, though. Next time for sure.
Unfortunately, while I enjoy regional breakdowns using cabbage or meat, or how the beets are cut or grated, this is mostly just me, so generic Eastern Europe filtered through Alice Waters’ sensibilities.