Victoria Turovsky’s Borscht
This recipe comes from our good friend, Victoria Turovsky, who has made borscht “by feel” since her childhood in Ukraine. A recipe loved by her grandson, she has been good enough to share it here.
Ingredients:
6 cups chicken broth or bouillon
2 cans small whole beets. Reserve liquid for pot.
2 fresh carrots, shredded
1 green fresh cabbage, shredded
1 large potato
1 lb cooked meat (chicken breast or stew beef), cut in ½ inch chunks
1 jar tomato sauce (or may substitute shrimp cocktail sauce)
Salt and sugar to taste
2 T olive oil (may need more depending on thickness of soup)
½ T high quality sour cream for garnish
Preparation:
Prepare vegetables by carefully shredding beets, carrots, and cabbage.
Cut potato in small cubes.
In a large bowl, mix together prepared vegetables.
In a large skillet, place all vegetables with 2 T olive oil and cook on low heat until tender.
Separately, cook meat and cut into chunks.
In a big pot, combine sautéed vegetables, cooked meat, reserved beet juice, tomato sauce, and salt and sugar to taste. Add chicken broth or bouillon. You may need to add up to a half pot of water for a thinner soup.
Cook soup on a low flame until mixture is tender. Taste often.
Let cool and refrigerate.
When ready to serve, garnish each bowl of soup with ½ T of sour cream.
Soup tastes better the second day. Depending on the type of meat you use, the recipe will take on a slightly different flavor. To have some fun, experiment!
Serves 6-10.