Recipe for Savory Red Cabbage & Beet Borscht

If you're interested in the background of this beet borscht recipe, visit the pantry tale.

Ingredients

• 8-10 cups vegetable broth or water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• 1-2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped and divided
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
• 3-4 medium red beets, peeled, thinly sliced rounds (4 cups); or 4 cups canned pickled beets
• 1 small carrot, peeled, grated or julienned (optional)
• ½ head red cabbage, shredded (1.5-2 cups)
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 2 teaspoon brown sugar (optional)
• A few tablespoons white or red wine, or more (optional)
• 1 cup sour cream or more (optional)
• Pepper to taste (about ½ teaspoon)

Method

Add peeled red beets to the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmering the beets for about 30 minutes. If using pickled beets, you can skip the initial beet preparation and proceed to blending all the ingredients together. Borscht made with pickled beets only requires about 30 minutes of cooking time, unlike fresh beets. Consider reducing the lemon juice because the pickled beets contain vinegar. Sometimes I cook one or two fresh beets for a richer broth, puree and then add a few cups of pickled beets in the final 15 minutes of cooking.

Courtesy of KcMeesha

In the meantime, grate or julienne the carrots and shred the red cabbage. Remove beets and set aside to cool. Thinly slice half the beets into ¼-inch round slices, and grate or julienne the remaining beets.

Courtesy of KcMeesha

Alternatively, rather than cooking with vegetable broth, substitute with water, or even try chicken broth. Beef broth is usually too heavy for this recipe, but if you enjoy a beef broth, experiment with it. I add beets directly into the boiling broth rather than tossing the water out.

Courtesy of KcMeesha

Add one-tablespoon butter to skillet, and slightly soften garlic slivers along with shredded carrot and red cabbage for 10 minutes.


Sprinkle half the lemon juice over the cooked beets, stirring the garlic and beets into the broth. Stir salt and bay leaves into the stock once the borscht reaches a rolling boil. You can also throw in a tablespoon of chopped dill, reserving the rest of the dill for condiment. Turn down the heat and simmer borscht on very low heat for up to two hours. Add more water as necessary during the simmer period.

You’ll notice the soup will darken into a vibrant purple-red color quickly. The red cabbage won’t contribute to the red purple color quite as much as you may think. Red cabbage often turns blue when cooked. Adding citrus fruit or vinegar preserves the red color. However, the beet color will permeate the red cabbage transforming it into a deep purple blue.

Check your soup periodically. It may be ready in an hour. Add the carrots and red cabbage somewhere between 30 to 60 minutes before it’s time to remove the soup from the heat. It depends on how crisp you prefer your vegetables. In the final 30 minutes, add pepper and parsley to taste, along with a few dashes of white wine. You may prefer a dash of beer - neither is a necessity. Simmer borscht for another 15 to 30 minutes.

Remove and discard bay leaves. Strain all the solid vegetables from the broth, separating the thin slices of beet from the shredded vegetables. Chill the broth for approximately four hours.

Separate about 1/3 of the solid shredded vegetables (approximately 2 cups); set aside the other 2/3 of vegetables, including the sliced beets to chill. Strain the chilled broth a second time until it runs clear of remaining herbs, spices or vegetable fragments. Discard these remnants or add them into a blender, but make sure the broth is a very silky smooth consume. Most times, I stop here and throw some vegetables back in, but sometimes it’s nice to use the blender for a pureed effect.

Add one cup of broth to blender along with two cups of reserved vegetables. Add additional broth to the blender as needed until a wet puree is finely pulsed. Blend the puree gently back into the remaining soup broth. Heat the soup base slowly over a stove. The puree should lend a slight volume to the delicate clear consistency of the broth, yet not create a lumpy consistency. If you find the soup becomes too thick from the puree, add increments of water to regain the thinner consistency of the bodied consume.

Add the final 2/3 of solid vegetables back into the hot borscht. You may decide to add only the vegetables you desire back into the soup. I always add the sliced rounds of beet and some of the shredded red cabbage, sometimes pureeing the carrot instead. The body of this refined soup leans toward a clear red-purple consume with slices of beet, hints of shredded carrot, shredded beets and shredded red cabbage adding volume to the soup without crowding it into a thick, or stew-like consistency.

Add the remaining lemon juice. Add a little sugar to taste, if necessary. If the beets are sweeter, and the vegetables are fresh, a touch of sugar is not always necessary. Reheat for 15 minutes on a slow simmer. Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche. Sprinkle the remaining fresh dill over the soup just before serving. Serve with fresh rolls or rye bread.

Borscht is also served chilled. This recipe is excellent for chilled borscht, for the smooth consume is similar to those other chilled soups, such as raspberry soup. In fact, raspberry beet borscht is a delicious alternative.

For chilled borscht, do not add the remaining 2/3 of vegetables back into the broth. Ultimately, for a thinner consume (hot or cold), it is not necessary to puree any vegetables whatsoever, and you’ll save yourself a lot of cleanup in your blender.

Photography by John Kernick

If you do prefer a thick pureed soup, puree all the vegetables rather than only 1/3 of the vegetables. I find when I puree half of the vegetables, the base comes out rather thick, but experiment until you find the right balance for you. I prefer it with no more than 1/3 of puree added, but it sure saves cleaning up if you omit using your blender, or processor altogether. Beets vibrantly stain everything, and beet consume is just as good, if not better without all the fuss of blenders and food processors. Every now and then it lends a change in the overall presentation when the borscht is pureed.