Hot Borsch Soup

The hot borsch soup turned out really good.  It is a stew that incorporates beets and kvass in it.  This seem like a very inexpensive dish that can use the lousy cuts of meat (grass fed) some veggies past their prime and beets.  It will work well in our household for a couple of reasons... 1)  I usually have beet kvass going and always have extra beets and 2) my hubby and son liked it and 3) I am always looking for a way to put veggies in something.  Success! A new meal for us that is inexpensive and organic.

I am listing one recipe.  Sveta is from Russia (I think) and makes a mean borsch!  I will also list what today's borsch grew from.

How today's soup grew:

• A small roast with lots of fat and bones and not much meat from the bottom of my freezer.  Grass Fed, organic from my uncle.  Put it on the wood stove this morning in a pot, seared it on both sides, then added a bunch of water, onion and seasoning.  This perked along all day with the stove.
• Late this afternoon, using a smallish pot (in case we didn't like it) some broth and about 1/2 cup of meat started the borsch.  The meat was shredded before adding it in.
• To this 3 small (kind of old and growing just a little) potatoes, shredded cabbage, some celery, a little more onion and some of the beets from the kvass were added.  If there had been carrots on hand, they would have been in there too, but no luck.
• Some cultured tomato paste from the fridge (last summer's experiment)
• This simmered for about 45 minutes, then some of the beet kvass went in.  A little creme fraiche went on top and some barley/oat bread on the side.... A meal!

There was enough left for tomorrow's lunch.  I plan to serve it over baked potatoes.

Now for a real recipe:

Borsch recipe from Sveta

1 lb beef meat ( or chicken)
2 medium beet roots
1 (good size) carrot
1/2 of head cabbage
3 medium potatoes (optional)
1 med tomato (optional)
1/2 medium size onion
salt 1/2 Tsp
pepper 1/2 tsp
bay leaf - 2-3 leaves
1 tsp - raw vinegar
1/3c. olive oil
dill or parsley ( optimal)

In a pan put meat (cut into small pieces) add water and salt. Cook until the meat is done. Into the broth add cabbage and cook until done. Then add potatoes (cut into pieces). Leave it on low heat.

In a skillet put oil, grated (or cut small pieces) beets, carrots, onion. Saute' until the beets have colored the onion. Then put into the broth/cabbage mixture and cook for 10 more minutes.

Turn off heat. Add bay leaves, pepper, and vinegar. Add dill and parsley  before serving.

Sveta