Bob’s borscht
This is my father-in-law Bob’s borscht recipe, which he adapted from Joan Nathan. It’s very good in the summer and freezes well for later. We also like to serve it with bagels.
Notes
* If you use a meat-based broth, guests who wish to separate meat and dairy will not want sour cream. Sour cream is so good that you may wish to use plain water instead of broth in that case.
Ingredients
- 2½ lbs. (about 2 bunches) beets, peeled and quartered or eighths
- 8 oz carrots, peeled and rough chopped
- 8 oz onion, peeled and rough chopped (red or yellow; red helps the final soup color)
- 4 oz celery, rough chopped
- 2 apple, peeled, cored, and eighthed
- 2 oz ginger, sliced thin
- ½ cup (or to taste) sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Lemon, juiced (You can substitute other souring agents for the lemon juice. Vinegar or pickle juice for example.)
- 3 quarts water or broth* (Bob’s note: I used 1 qt each water, homemade chicken broth, canned chicken broth)
- Fresh dill, to serve
- Sour cream, to serve (Bob’s note: Breakstone Sour Cream is far and away the best sour cream you can buy — anywhere on this planet.)
Instructions
- Coat the beets, carrots, and onion with oil and roast them in a medium oven. These quantities will fill a couple of baking dishes. The carrots will be done before the beets are soft. Take all of the vegetables out of the oven when the carrots are cooked. The beets will not be soft yet.
- Put the roasted beets, carrots, and onions, and the celery, apples, and ginger in a soup pot and cover with the water/broth. Bring the pot to a slow boil, cover it and let it boil until the beets are soft. Check them every half hour or so. It will take more than an hour. Periodically add more water to maintain the level of liquid in the pot.
- Add sugar, salt, and lemon juice to balance the flavor.
- Allow the pot to cool for a while. Timing is not crucial. Use an immersion blender to puree the vegetables in the cooking liquid.
- Chill the soup and garnish it with dill and sour cream in the bowl. Pumpernickel and smoked fish are marvelous accompaniments.