Polish Peasant Repast

Steve's Homemade Borscht

For anyone who likes beets, or vegetable soups in general, this take on a wonderful peasant dish, made a delicious counterpoint to the hottest day of the year.

Makes 5-6 servings

Ingredients

2 cups shredded fresh beets (6 medium beets)

1 large beet, sliced into 1/4 inch strips

1 cup shredded carrots

1 cup finely chopped shallots

2 cups Swanson vegetable broth

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

4 cups Swanson beef broth (or vegetable broth)

1 cup shredded cabbage

1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Sour cream, for garnish

Directions

We used a food processor to prepare the shredded beets and carrots, as well as to chop the parsley.

In a dutch oven, bring the processed beets and carrots, the shallots, 2 cups veggie stock, and salt to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add 4 cups beef broth, shredded cabbage, chopped parsley, sliced beets, and butter. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in red wine vinegar. Let cool to room temperature. Transfer to glass serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Top each serving with a large dollop of sour cream, and serve with fresh homemade (see below) or bakery rye bread and butter.

For any bakers out there, here is Shellie's recipe for,

Classic Caraway Rye

For this recipe I used a well greased loaf pan, and did NOT slice across the top. The result is a beautifully raised loaf with a crisp crust and a soft and tender crumb!

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups Anson Mills Rye Flour (www.ansonmills.com)

2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon caraway seeds, slightly bruised (lightly ground, but not broken up)

1 package RedStar Active Dry yeast (make sure it's fresh)

1 teaspoon gluten

1 1/3 cups tepid water

1 tablespoon plain yogurt, at room temperature

Directions

Mix flours, salt and caraway seeds together. (I used my mixing bowl, and did this with my standing mixer.) Using the dough hook, stir the dry ingredients until blended. Gradually add half the water and all of the yogurt, and then the rest of the water. Turn the mixer to medium. Let the mixer knead the dough with the hook for 10 minutes (until the dough pulls away from the bowl and begins to form a ball).

Lightly oil a medium glass mixing bowl. Make sure to go all the way up the sides. Turn dough out of mixing bowl into the oiled glass mixing bowl. Gently turn the dough over with oiled side up, cover with plastic wrap and let rise 1 1/2 to 2 hours until doubled in size.

On a lightly floured surface, turn out dough. It will slightly deflate. Gently turn over so the top and bottom have flour on their surface. Without over handling, shape into a loaf and put into well greased loaf pan. Inflate a 2 gallon plastic storage bag over the loaf pan and seal. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 425°. Carefully take bread pan from plastic bag and insert into the center of hot oven. Bake bread for 30 - 35 minutes until richly brown. Immediately take bread from loaf pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Serve with salted butter.