Back...With Some Borscht!

It has been what seems like an eternity since I've sat down to write up a delicious recipe.  Needless to say I've missed my little blog, and with the cooler temperatures coming on - I'm ready to fire up the oven!

Since the theme here is cooler weather, I figured a nice hearty soup would be absolutely fitting for my first entry back.  I have been talking with one of my clients who is of Russian descent about her many favourite dishes from back home, and Borscht comes up a lot.  She gave me a few tips and tricks she knows from making her famous dish; and I'm passing on the secrets!

The most important trick for this dish is to make sure to dice up the vegetables into nice small cubes from maximum eat-ability.  Borscht is best made the day before serving to let all the flavours meld together.    There are also a few ways to make the dish in terms of meat stock/meat bits or completely vegetarian.  For this recipe I've used a pork hock simmered over medium low heat for about 2 hours.  Stay tuned for a super simple broth recipe that you can use for this dish and many others.

So colourful! 

Borscht:

2-3 TBSPs olive oil
1 carrot finely diced
1 green pepper diced (I actually went with yellow to add some colour)
1 stalk celery diced
1 onion finely diced
2 cloves garlic finely diced
2 beets finely diced
1/2 head cabbage diced
2 tomatoes grated (keep the juice)
1 nice handful dill chopped
1 pork hock (omit for beef, chicken or completely vegetarian if you so choose)
900ML box of broth (or about 6-8 cups of homemade broth)

In a large pot, put your pork hock and water to cover the hock over medium-low heat.  Simmer for up to 2 hours depending on size, picking the meat off the bone every once in a while.  You may need to add a few more cups of water during the process.  Once the meat is picked off, and the fat/skin bits have been separated strain the meat.  Toss the remaining fat, skin and bones in the compost.

In the same large pot, add the olive oil, garlic, and all the diced up vegetables except for the cabbage and tomato.  Cook over high heat stirring constantly for about 5 minutes, or until the veggies are soft.  Add in the broth, meat, tomatoes, dill, and cabbage.  Bring to a rolling boil uncovered for at least 5 more minutes before simmering for up to 40 minutes on low heat with the lid on.  If you like your cabbage crunchy, you can add it during the last 10 minutes of the simmering process.