Borscht

Here is the recipe that I used. This comes from Extending the Table.

In Dutch oven or large pot, cook until tender:
1 lb beef or soup bone (500 g)
3 qt water

Chop meat or remove from bone and return to broth.
Add
6 potatoes, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
10 oz cabbage, chopped (300 g)

Cook until potatoes are almost tender, then add:
1 onion, chopped
1 small red beet, shredded
5 tomatoes, chopped or 3 c canned tomatoes, or tomato juice (750 ml)
dill and parsley to taste
2 t salt or to taste
1/4 t pepper
1 bay leaf (optional)

Just before serving, stir in:
1/2 c heavy cream, sour cream, or yogurt

There is the recipe. Would I make it again? Probably not. The contributor is from Russia so I am assuming that this is a real Borscht recipe. I didn't ask Bo if it tasted like what he had when he was there. For me the tomatoes made it a bit like a beef soup. We used yogurt. Oh, I didn't add it to the pan but rather we added it to each bowl. Oh, the fresh beets were too expensive so I added a can of beets and included the juice. Another thing I didn't add as many potatoes. This makes lots of soup. We ate it for dinner, lunch, lunch and lunch again.

What I will make is this:

Beet Soup

2 cups canned beets (I always chop a bit because I buy sliced beets)
2 carrots
1 medium onion
1 cup shredded cabbage
3 cups vegetable broth or water
1/2 tsp salt
few turns of pepper grinder
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Light sour cream or nonfat yogurt (optional)

Cut up vegetables coarsely and, except for the beets, put them in a pressure cooker along with the broth, salt, pepper, butter and lemon juice. Cook for 3 minutes. Put half of the cooked vegetables and beets in food processor with 1 cup of broth from the pressure cooker. Blend for 30 seconds. return to pressure cooker and keep on low heat. Serve with topping of light sour cream or nonfat yogurt.

This recipe is from The Quick & Easy Vegetarian Cookbook. "this soup may not have the authenticity of the steppes of Russia, but it evokes crusty black bread and other sturdy, nutritious, peasant fare. I usually make this when Bo is out of town because I didn't think he liked beets. Now he says he does.

My changes I don't have a pressure cooker and so I just do everything in a regular pan on the stove. I don't put it in the food processor. Oh, and in the following of my Eat Fat lose fat we have regular sour cream or yogurt.
Serves 4 to 6.