Monday, October 5, 2015

Recipe Thursday - Borscht


Borscht

Fill a soup pot with about 8 or 10 cups of water.  Add one piece of pork with a bone in it (any cut is okay, it is just for flavor), a celery stalk or two, a couple chunks of onion, a couple bay leaves, salt and pepper.  Boil for a while to create a base for the borscht.  Take all pieces out, reserving only the liquid.

At the same time, in a separate pan, boil about 6 beets (skins on, stalks cut off) until fork tender but not soft.  Remove from water and cool.

When cool, remove skin from beets.  Grate beets into hash-brown kind of pieces.  Return grated beets to reserved water from above.  Bring to boil on stove and simmer.  Season with salt, pepper and vinegar to taste. Serve over a mound of mashed potatoes in a bowl. Just before serving, add a dollop of sour cream and throw a sprig of dill frond on top.



NOTE** - This was the Christmas eve traditional meal for my husband's German maternal grandparents. I have no idea if above measurements are exact or not, I have just learned to make it from watching and it goes something like that above.   I do sometimes take some of the pork, which shreds easily because it is boiled very tender, and add it back to the soup for a little flavor, but if you want to go meatless, which I think is the traditional German/Polish way, you obviously wouldn’t do this!

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