It may be a bit soon to put another soup out there but, just in case anyone has found beautiful beets at the market today I thought I'd go ahead. This is an unusual borscht with no cabbage or meat but mushrooms, both dried and fresh. I've loved borscht since living on the Russian River in California. My neighbor was a weekender from San Francisco and I cleaned her house. She'd spend the weekend cooking Russian food and leave the leftovers for us to finish up.
Just got around to making the borscht recipe I recommended. I had used my new senior free Gold pass on the bus (what a bonus of getting old!) and walking home I noticed our neighborhood farmer's market in full swing. Laden with library books, backpack and now beets I headed out.
I found the recipe just as delicious as it sounded. I used dried porcini (and now have a stash for future stews and soups) and baby Bellas but didn't othwise take any liberties other than throwing the garnis straight into the soup as I never seem to have cheesecloth on hand.
It makes a large amount and I have very little freezer space. Luckily I was visiting with a friend just as the soup finished so I took her some. Monique dubbed it "Beat Soup" with help from her automatic spell check in her text and I like the name. She and Erwin liked it too.
I used some beautiful dried mixed mushrooms from the Farmer's Market in Boulder in May. There must have been about ten different kinds in the mix, all of which were fairly small, and they smelled incredible when I poured on the boiling water. I agree with Ellen about cooking beets before peeling. The peels rub right off and you lose hardly any beet. I substituted a couple of leeks for the onion and about a cup of chopped lovage and tiny celery stems and leaves from my garden for the celery. A mesh tea ball works great for a bouquet garni and I had fresh thyme, bay leaves and parsley in the garden so I doubled all the seasoning amounts (no one ever says "too much thyme or bay leaf", right?). When everything was cooked the soup seemed a little more stewy than soupy so I added about 3 cups of water. At the end I added 2 healthy tablespoons of pomegranate red wine vinegar instead of cider vinegar just because the slight sweetness seemed to complement the beets.
I just finished up the last of this soup. I thought it was good, but not as interesting as I had hoped. I did, however, eat almost all of it myself, so I clearly enjoyed it! The one ingredient I forgot to buy was yogurt, and I think that adding a generous scoop to each serving might really have made this soup into something excellent.
I'll condense the recipe a bit as it is long but you can find all the details on the NYT website.
1. Soak 1 oz. dried mushrooms (about 1 c. porcini or shiitakes) in 3 c. boiling water for 30 min. Strain and save liquid, rinse mushrooms and chop.
2. While mushrooms soak cook 1 bunch beets with 2 sliced garlic cloves, 1 tsp. salt and 1-2 tsp. sugar in 1 qt water, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
3. Remove beets to cool then peel and dice or julienne. Note: recipe suggest peeling beets before cooking but I think this works better. Add enough of the beet broth to the mushroom soaking liquid to make 6 cups.
4. Heat 2 Tbs. olive oil in a large heavy pot. Add 1 large chopped onion, 2 medium diced carrots and 2 sliced celery stalks, pinch of salt and 1 minced clove garlic. Cook until tender. Add 1/2 lb. sliced fresh white or cremini mushrooms and cook until they begin to sweat. Add chopped dried mushrooms, the reserved broth, beets and bouquet garni*. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Add chopped beet greens and simmer another 5 minutes. Stir in 1 Tbs. cider vinegar, adjust seasonings, remove bouquet garni, stir in 1/4 c. chopped parsley and serve, garnished with yogurt.
*bouquet garni made with 10 parsley stems, 2 bay leaves, 6 black peppercorns, 2 sprigs thyme and 3 allspice berries tied in a cheesecloth bag.
Ellen's "Beat Soup"
Just got around to making the borscht recipe I recommended. I had used my new senior free Gold pass on the bus (what a bonus of getting old!) and walking home I noticed our neighborhood farmer's market in full swing. Laden with library books, backpack and now beets I headed out.
I found the recipe just as delicious as it sounded. I used dried porcini (and now have a stash for future stews and soups) and baby Bellas but didn't othwise take any liberties other than throwing the garnis straight into the soup as I never seem to have cheesecloth on hand.
It makes a large amount and I have very little freezer space. Luckily I was visiting with a friend just as the soup finished so I took her some. Monique dubbed it "Beat Soup" with help from her automatic spell check in her text and I like the name. She and Erwin liked it too.
Ann's Beet Borscht
I ate a bowl for dinner topped with a big spoon of greek yogurt and a tablespoon or so of minced chives. This soup is fantastic--really hearty and satisfying even though it's totally vegetarian. I've definitely had some bland borschts in the past, but this one is far from dull and it will be a my go-to borscht recipe from now on. Thank you Ellen!
Cassie's Friend-Approved Borscht
I just finished up the last of this soup. I thought it was good, but not as interesting as I had hoped. I did, however, eat almost all of it myself, so I clearly enjoyed it! The one ingredient I forgot to buy was yogurt, and I think that adding a generous scoop to each serving might really have made this soup into something excellent.
Aside from this omission, I didn't make too many modifications. I used the greens from two bunches of beets, because they weren't all that voluminous, and I added in a few extra beets as well as mine were quite small. I also doubled the amount of vinegar, but I think lemon juice would have been even better.
My Polish friend stopped by my office one day while I was eating this soup. She was very happy I was eating borscht, and did not seem at all dismayed when I told her in what ways it had been bastardized. In other words, she approved of the mushrooms!
