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Borscht is a popular soup in many Eastern and Central European countries. I have to admit that when I first learned about it, it didn’t sound appealing; to start I have never been a fan of beets and the idea of combining it with cabbage into a soup, didn’t help either.
The making of this blog has forced me to try to cook different things, even foods that I “thought” I didn’t like, but I was quite surprised with the results of this “experiment”.
Ingredients:
1 lb of nitrate free pork or turkey sausage (optional)
8 cups of beef broth (use vegetable broth for vegetarian or vegan options)
3 shredded beets
3 sliced carrots
2 medium turnips, finely chopped
1 medium onion
4 chopped Roma tomatoes
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cabbage head, shredded
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup of fresh dill or 3 tbsp of dry
Preparation:
- In a large saucepan brown the onions and sausage with the oil, breaking the sausage into small pieces.
- Add the broth, tomatoes, beets, dill, and bay leaves and bring to a boil.
- Add the carrots and turnips, lower the heat and cook for 15 minutes.
- Add the cabbage and vinegar and continue to cook until cabbage is tender.
edibleharmony.wordpress.com 
We make borsh (by the way, there’s no T at the end in Russian, is it silent when people say it in English?) here all the time, I grew up on it 🙂 I imagine there are different variations in Eastern Europe. Potatoes and beans are among the main ingredients in the version I’m familiar with. And I never liked cabbage in borsh, so I don’t add it. If you don’t boil beets, they will keep their deeper red color (instead of turning brownish red) after you add them to the soup. We cook meat and beans first, add potatoes later and in a separate frying pan cook onions, carrots and then beets with tomatoes, with just barely enough liquid to keep the mixture from sticking (more oil will help beets to avoid too much steaming). Once everything in the pot is ready, we turn it off and add the vegetable mixture. Also, if you add more tomatoes, they will give enough kick without the need of vinegar 😉 And most importantly, sour cream in a bowl of borsh is a must. Lastly, it tastes better on the second day, so I always make a gigantic pot of it!
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Thanks for the input. I was unsure about the correct spelling but since wikipedia said both spellings are correct I randomly just chose the one with the T at the end. Becauseof my Paleo lifestyle I don’t eat potatoes or beans so I had to adjust it. I just looked at your blog and loved it. i am also a home-“birther” and an attachment parenting fan.
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I see it spelled with a T all the time, I just can’t figure out why 🙂 And it slipped my mind for a minute that you did paleo until after I submitted my comment. I’m not strict anything when it comes to eating, but try to stick to whole fresh/raw foods with little grains (usually when kids’ leftovers are my only chance to have a breakfast at 2 p.m., ha!), lots of eggs and some meat. My son is the pickiest, so when I make borsh, he will only eat the liquid and potatoes from it. I hope my post didn’t come across as a lecture, I just wanted to share my experience with borsh as someone who grew up eating it all the time 🙂
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