Borscht

I have never thought that borscht looked like a soup that I would like to eat, let alone make.  But our visit to Belly changed my opinion of borscht.  Brian ordered borscht for dinner and kindly let us all taste it and it was delicious.  I think the color is what turned me off.  Its kind of a weird color for soup – it reminds me of the soup that Renee Zellweger makes in Bridget Jones Diary (instead of using standard kitchen string for the bouquet garni, she uses red string that turns the soup pink).

We had some roasted beets leftover from our roasted beet salad, plus potatoes and carrots from our CSA, and a head of savoy cabbage from our Eugene Local Foods order – a majority of the ingredients for borscht.  I bought some chicken thighs to add to the soup, but forgot about them – I bet they would be delicious.  

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Roasted beet salad

Image from Tiny Farm Blog.

Unlike our President Elect, I love beets.  And this is my all-time favorite beet recipe.  I have tried others and always wish that I had just made this one.  If you haven’t tried beets in years or only know beets from salad bars – this is your recipe.

The beets are roasted, which is the easiest, least messy, and most tasty way to prepare beets (in my opinion, of course).  I like to wrap beets individually in foil – it reduces the mess, helps them stay juicy, and the peels slip right off when you roast them this way.  It does take a little longer, but worth the extra time especially since the oven does all the work.

I have used all types of beets in this recipe – red, golden, chiogga, and they all work equally great.  This is a great weekday meal because the prep-time is minimal.  You just have to allow for enough time for the beets to roast (about 1 to 1-1/2 hours).  You can also make the recipe a day or two ahead  (except for combining the beets and greens).

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