Roasted Beet Borscht Soup

Borscht

This is a big pot of soup for a cold rainy afternoon, which can literally occur anytime here in the Vancouver area at this time of year!  You can serve this hearty soup for your guests or simply cook for two and take a day or two off from cooking over the next couple of days. The longer it cooks, the better the flavour gets so it is perfect for rainy afternoons when you can spare time for a cozy homemade meal to replenish your soul.

Ingredients

Some baby celery leaves from the previous year’s plant that I started from seeds have survived the freezing temperatures, and have now started to show the signs of spring! I like this soup slightly creamy but not too much. When I use heavy cream, I might omit sour cream or vice versa. It totally depends on your liking; feel free to adjust.

Roasted Beet Borscht Soup

Serves 6-8

1 pound beets

2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons butter

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 large onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

3/4 cup potatoes, diced

8 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)

2 1/2 cups canned diced tomatoes

2 cups cabbage, shredded

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon or so salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Sour cream, for garnish

2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped (I use whatever green leaves are available in my garden such as cilantro or chives)

Scrub the beets and remove the leaves, leaving a 1 inch stub from the top. Place them on a large piece of aluminum foil and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with oil and seal the foil tight, then roast until they are tender when tested. Large beets may take an hour or so. Set aside and let cool

In the meantime, chop the vegetables, and heat a large heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat to melt the butter. Sauté garlic, onion, carrots, celery and potatoes until softened and starting to colour, about 15 to 20 minutes. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Turn down the stove top to medium-low heat and skim off the foam that floats on top. Add diced tomatoes, bring to a boil and repeat the process to remove unwanted foam on the surface of the soup. Remove the skins from the beets, chop into cubes and add to the soup. Let simmer over medium-low heat for an hour with a lid, stirring occasionally.

This is the time to serve yourself a glass of wine if you haven’t yet. Take a break for a while.

The last thing to do is to shred the cabbage and add it to the soup after simmering for 1 hour. Then, let simmer for another 20 minutes. Add cream and adjust the taste with salt and pepper to your liking.

Serve in bowls, garnished with sour cream and dill.

 

Pumpkin Dinner Rolls and Borscht for Valentine’s Day

Borscht

We don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day. But we always make a nice meal and pour a glass of red wine. This year, however, we didn’t have  steaks or bourguignon, but choose a vegetarian dish, borscht and these rolls. Maybe because we started hot yoga, it feels right to eat more vegetable dishes to cleanse our system. Drink a lot of water, eat more raw food, or at least veggie-based food, stretch, drink more water and sweat it out.

Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

I use freshly roasted winter squash, like Marina Di Chioggia or Red Kuri , that was left after making soup. I know there are a lot of pumpkin dishes at our house this time of year. The fireplace comes in handy when I bake this type of bread. The dough seems to nicely rise for a short time. I just rotate it every so often to make sure one side doesn’t get too hot. If you do, be careful not to place pans too close to the fire. We have two friends who happily anticipate the good food coming later in the day while I bake these rolls. It’s leftover pumpkin skin that they love! For now, they sleep (or watch) in front of my rising doughs.

Pumpkin Dinner Roll

Redrose

These rolls go really well with a big pot of chili or soup.

Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

Make about 25-28 rolls

1 tbsp instant yeast

1 cup warm milk

1/2 cup warm water

5 tbsp sugar

2 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

5 cups all purpose flour

1 cup spelt flour (if you don’t have spelt, substitute with 1 cup of all purpose flour)

Extra olive oil for greasing a bowl

2 tbsp milk for brushing

Put together the yeast, the milk, the water and the sugar in a large bowl. Whisk to dissolve and let sit for a few minutes. Add salt, oil, and the pumpkin puree, and whisk until combined. Add the flour a cup at a time and knead into a soft dough, adjusting flour or liquid as needed. Knead for 7 minutes, until smooth.

Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size

Line two 9 inch round pans with parchment paper. Pull off pieces of dough a little bigger than a golf ball, about 2 oz and roll them in your hand to form a ball. Place in the prepared pans just touching one another. When pans are filled cover and let rise for about 40 minutes, until almost doubled.

Preheat oven to 400 F and just before putting the doughs in the oven,  brush the milk on the top of the doughs. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from pan to cool on a wire rack. Serve warm and pull off rolls as needed. They freeze beautifully if you have too much. Thaw them at room temperature and warm them up when you need them.