Easy Cold Beet Soup (Borscht)

Forget that overly sweet Manischewitz borscht in a jar. This soup, made from scratch, is the real thing. And the best part is that it is really easy. It does take time (because in this case "easy" does not equal "fast") but you will have enough soup to last a few days.

When Week 8's selection included a bunch of beets for the first time, I immediately thought of borscht. I grew up on this soup but I never actually made it before. My mother came over to show me how to cook it. I got the beets out for her, walked away for a little bit to attend to something else and when I came back... Voila! The soup was done. I told you it'd be easy.

But in case you don't have someone else to make this for you, here is the recipe:

Easy Cold Beet Soup (Borscht)
(Print this recipe)

3 medium beets, stems removed
2-3 potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
The juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt
sugar (optional)
hard-boiled eggs, sliced
diced cucumber
sour cream

1. Wash, peel and cut the beets in half. Fill a medium pot with water and put beets in. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and cook until they are fork tender, about 20-25 minutes. Ten or fifteen minutes into the cooking, add the potatoes so that they cook with the beets the last 10-15 minutes.

2. When the beets are tender, pull them out and cool until they are cool enough to handle. Continue cooking the potatoes in the pot.  When cool enough to handle, grate the beets on the large holes of a box grater or with the grating attachment on a food processor. Put the beets back into the soup. Cook a few minutes more, testing your potatoes. Potatoes will be done about 15-20 minutes after you put them in. Make sure not to overcook the potatoes or else they will disintegrate into the soup.

3. Add the lemon juice, salt and sugar (if desired). If adding sugar, add a teaspoon at a time, then taste and adjust as needed. Cool the soup, then refrigerate. It's even better the next day.

4. To serve, Russians typically ladle the soup into bowls and pass the eggs, cucumbers, and sour cream around so everyone can add however much they want.

Enjoy!

Lettuce, Spinach and Bok Choy… Oh Boy!

My take the third week: Six heads of lettuce (it makes the previous week’s four heads seem downright stingy), spinach, bok choy, collard greens, and pick-your-own strawberries and snap peas. Apparently, the family share of the harvest includes a free gym membership as well. After picking strawberries and snap peas for over an hour, the following day I felt as if I'd been to the gym. Every muscle I had ached and all I wanted to do was to stay in bed. But no. Whether I want to or not, I have to make dinner most nights for my hungry crew, else we have to suffer through take-out.

I gave most of the lettuce and the collard greens away. I’ve never bought or used collard greens before and I’m not sure I’ve even tasted them before. It wasn’t that I wasn’t willing to try them; I was just preoccupied with making use of the other things in a timely manner. With bok choy and snap peas, I made a dinner of grilled Flat Iron Steak, accompanied by Bok Choy and Snap Peas. With spinach, I made Schav, a Russian cold borscht traditionally made with sorrel, but which can also be made with spinach. Sorrel is hard to find and spinach is the common substitute.

Flat Iron Steak with Bok Choy and Snap Peas
(Print this recipe)


1 lb. flat iron steak

1 Tbsp. oil

salt

1 head bok choy

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

1/4 c. oyster sauce

2 cups snap or snow peas, cleaned and strings removed

3 Tbsp. soy sauce

1.  Preheat grill or broiler. Rub steak with oil and season with salt. Grill (or broil 4 inches from the heat) on each side for about 3-4 minutes for medium rare. Remove from the heat and let rest before slicing.


2.  In the meantime, chop the bok choy. Separate the white stems from the green leaves. The stems take longer to cook so they will go in first. Heat a skillet with oil and sauté the garlic until light brown and fragrant. Add the stems and stir fry until softened. Add the leaves and stir fry until wilted.  Remove from heat and stir in the oyster sauce.


3.  Wipe pan and return to heat. Add more oil if necessary. When hot, add the snap peas and stir fry until they've turned bright green and are crisp tender. Remove from heat and stir in the soy sauce.


4.  Slice the steak and serve with these two delicious sides.

Spinach Soup (Schav)
(adapted from Please to the Table by Anya von Bremzen and John Welchman)
(Print this recipe)


When days are hot, I always crave this cold, green soup from my Russian childhood. My grandmother would make this with the tangy, lemony sorrel that was always available there. Here, in the US, it’s not so available. In the last ten years, I’ve only seen it sold once in my local supermarket and even so, it was sold as an herb in a small plastic container alongside the other herbs. That is not nearly enough for this light, cool soup. You will need seven cups of it so the small containers won’t do. Use spinach instead for a reasonably good facsimile to the traditional sorrel soup.


2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 small rib celery, chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/4 chopped scallions
5-6 cups chicken stock
2 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
7 cups spinach (or 4 cups sorrel and 3 cups spinach)
salt and pepper
1/2 c. heavy cream
2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced, for garnish
2 small cucumbers, peeled and diced, for garnish
sour cream, for garnish


1.  In a large soup pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add celery and shallot and sauté until softened, about 7 minutes. Add the scallions and sauté another 5 minutes.


2.  Add stock and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes and reduce the heat to medium low. Make sure the stock is covering the potatoes; if not, add more stock or water to cover. Simmer the potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes. Remove them from the soup and set aside.


3.  Bring the soup back to a boil. Add the spinach and cook until wilted, 3 minutes or so.  Remove from heat and add the salt and pepper.


4.  Using an immersion blender, puree the soup in the pot.  Alternatively, pour the soup into a blender and puree in batches. Move the soup to a tureen.  Stir in the heavy cream, cool, and then refrigerate for at least 2 hours.


5.  To serve, dice the potatoes and add them to the soup along with the sliced egg, cucumber, and sour cream.