Borsch / Borscht / Borshch

What a haul of purple vegetables! Purple Dragon Carrots were the highlight of my meal that night.

The first 'real meal' I made after setting my goal was a vegetable borsch, a soup known for its use of beets, and the fact that it is often served with sour cream. In this case, I made creme fraiche to go along with it, which is incredibly easy to make (see how here) and, in my opinion, tastes better than sour cream. There are about a million versions of borsch in traditional Russian and Polish households; some use beef, some are strictly vegetable, some are served hot, some are served cold. I chose not to put meat flesh in mine, although I did use beef broth as the soup base, but you could opt not to if you'd prefer to avoid it.

The great thing about this dish is that you can kind of sneak in as many other vegetables as you'd like. For one, the beets dye everything a deep red color, so feeding carrots to kids becomes a sneaky trick. The flavors that stand out to me as most important in a borsch are the beets, meat if you want it, onion, vinegar, dill and creme fraiche. Aside from that, you can add/subtract the other ingredients as you see fit. Here's what I did:

INGREDIENTS

Yields about 6 servings.

• 8 cups broth (beef broth works well!)
  
• 5 large beets, peeled, chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled, chopped
• 1 large potato, cubed
• 1 large onion, peeled, quartered
• 2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
• 3/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
  
• 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 3 Tbsp white vinegar
  
• 1 cup creme fraiche
  
• Salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION

1 Cut up, peel, and prepare any of the vegetables. If you have one, you can throw a the beets, carrots, potato, etc. into a slicer to make it easier on your hands.

2 Bring broth to a boil, and add in your onion to flavor the base. Incorporate beets, carrots, and potato, bringing to a boil at first, and then reducing to a simmer. Cover this and let it go about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender all the way through.

3 Add in your cabbage and most of the dill (the rest you'll use as garnish) and keep it simmering for another 15 minutes.

4 Season to taste with salt and pepper how you like. Stir in the vinegars, making sure to taste test. I like my borsch vinegary, so I added extra. If you generally don't like vinegar, start with less of it and taste as you go.

SERVING

It's recommended that each serving gets a dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche and a teaspoon of fresh dill. Truly, fresh creme fraiche and dill make all the difference!