Borsch or borscht

It has been a while since I've shared a recipe over here.  In my defence, winter light is dull and grey in this part of the world and in January/February it is challenging to take bright, interesting pictures of food.  Luckily I found a colourful sunny image, taken by Eric for PassiFlora magazine.  The recipe comes from my mom and I have to tell you that  I absolutely LOVE my mom's borscht.  When I stopped eating meat she adjusted her traditional recipe to make a delicious vegetarian version.  Eric loves it too.  So much that soon after visiting my mom a couple of weeks ago, where we had borscht and pies, he asked me whether I could make some more soon.
For all you borscht-craving people, here is our family recipe:

What you need

• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• 4 medium beets - cleaned, peeled, quartered
• 5-6 tomatoes (could be replaced with  canned ones - 2 cans), cubed.  Keep the juice from tomatoes
• 1 medium onion, chopped (small cubes)
• 2 carrots, grated
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 4-5 stalks of celery (with leaves), chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 small cabbage, cut thinly or shredded
• 3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 medium bunch of parsley, shredded
• 2-3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• salt and papper

 What to do:

• In a big pot, heat up about 2 liter (8 cups) of water.  Add tomato juice - this makes water acidic and beets will keep their colour, while cooking.
• Add beets and cook until soft.  Remove from the pot (do not discard water).  Shred half of beets and roughly cube the rest (my mom usually leaves a couple of very big pieces for my sister who loves biting into big chunks of beets).  Transfer beets back to the pot.
• Meanwhile, heat up olive oil in a skillet and fry onion until golden.  Add shredded carrots and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

 
Notes: 

Now you are ready to cook all your vegetables.  My mom does not like to over-cook her veggies, so she adds ingredients in batches.  Celery and potatoes take longer to cook so they go in for about 5 minutes.  Than she adds cabbage and lets it cook for just a little bit, and so on.  You can experiment with the cooking time and the order in which you are adding your veggies, so consider next steps as a guidelines.

This is also a good time to adjust the amount of broth.  You want your borscht to be hearty but not as thick as a stew.
 

• Bring water and beets to boil.  Add bay leaves, celery and potatoes.  Let cook for 5-7 minutes
• Add shredded cabbage and let the soup get to boil
• Add onion-carrot mix and red pepper and once again, get to boil
• Add tomatoes and cook for 10-15 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.
• Add parsley and garlic.  Close and let stand for 5-10 minutes (or longer)

Notes:  You can bring borscht back to boil before serving.

Traditionally borscht is eaten with a dollop of sour cream but I prefer it bright and red as is.   Another typical accompaniment to borscht is a slice of black rye bread (I like mine rubbed with garlic but a little bit of garlic butter could do the trick).
BTW, borscht can be made a day in advance and it actually tastes better on the second day. 

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More Russian food at SAS-does: Olivie salad
 

Olivie aka Russian salad

 

Ask any Russian what dish is ALWAYS served at any festive occasion and chances are he/she will say: "Olivie".  Together with red caviar, pierogies, and salted herring, this yummy salad with a French name is a Soviet/Russian culinary staple.  BTW this salad is especially successful with small children and picky eaters!
Just like any other folk recipe, Olivie salad has several versions.  I am giving my favorite basic recipe, but feel free to adjust the quantities.

What you need:

4-5 medium potatoes
2 medium carrots
2-3 hard-boiled eggs
1 small onion
2 pickles
1 can of green peas (you can use an equivalent amount of steamed/boiled frozen peas)
2-3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
2-3 tbsp mayonnaise OR mix equal amounts of mayo and sour cream

salt and pepper

 What to do:

• Boil carrots and potatoes until soft, but not over-cooked.  Let them cool and then cube finely (~1/4 inch)
• Finely cube the eggs.  Alternatively you can mash them roughly with a fork.
• Finely dice pickles and onions.  If onions are very strong, rinse under cold water and pat dry.
• Mix all the vegetables and add mayonnaise.  The preferred amount of mayo varies from person to person.  In general, Russians add a lot of it to their salads.  I usually start with  a couple of spoons and then adjust after tasting. 
• Add salt and pepper.

Tips and Suggestions: 

For a fancier dressing add a splash of lemon juice, a pinch of sugar, and a little bit of cucumber brine.

Originally, Olivie is not a vegetarian dish: diced ham or roasted chicken meat is added to the vegetable mix.

Some cooks add diced apples or even green grapes in the salad - although it sounds quite unusual, I encourage you to give it a try.