Larissa's Borsch
DifficultyEasy
Servings8 people
Instructions
- Create your stock (you can skip this step if you’re using a very good quality store bought stock - you’ll need 3 liters of stock for this recipe and jump to step 5)
- To create stock, fill a large pot with 3L of water.
- Cut short rib off the bone, cut meat into chunks - removing any major sinew - season both bone and rib generously with salt and pepper - (the bones will be used for the stock and removed later - leaving the tender chunks of meat in the broth for the soup)
- Brown the short rib bones and chunks of beef - add celery sticks, 2 carrots, 1 quartered onion, 2 cloves of smashed garlic, a few springs of dill, small bunch of parsley and 3 of the bay leaves - simmer for minimum of 1 hour, or until the beef chunks are tender
- Once the stock is ready, you can either strain it into another pot, or just remove the bones and vegetables; leaving the tender chunks of beef. Add 2 fresh bay leaves.
- Shred or julienne the beetroot, and fry off in a 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- Once the beets are mostly tender - add 2-3 heaped tablespoons of tomato paste and cook until dark, rich and aromatic (this may take another 5-10 mins on medium to low heat) - add 2 crushed garlic cloves, season with a generous pinch of salt and little pepper
- Add beetroot mix into the soup stock
- Shred or julienne the carrots, and dice the onions
- In the same pan as the beetroot was cooked in, heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and fry the grated or julienned carrots and diced onions - the goal is to cook these long enough that they’re sweet and rich, without browning. Add 2 cloves of crushed garlic and continue to cook until lightly caramelised - season with a generous pinch of salt and a little pepper
- Add carrot mix to the stock base with the beef and beetroot and stir well
- Peel + cut potatoes into thick batons - add to the soup and allow to simmer on low for 10-15 minutes, or until cooked through
- Add a generous squeeze of lemon juice to the pot - taste for balance. You may find that you need to adjust the seasoning by adding more salt - and add some fresh pepper
- Finely chop fresh dill and generously sprinkle into the borsch
- Serve with sour cream, and dark rye bread slathered in cultured butter and maldon salt flakesNote: Borsch will always taste better the second (or third!) day, after the flavours have time to meld - so keep it in the fridge and enjoy for days to come :-)
- Watch Larissa creating her Borsch here!
Notes
"I’m always blown away and inspired by how the most humble, simple ingredients - like potatoes, onions and beetroot - can be transformed into to something so rich, nourishing, beautifully complex and delicious. I grew up eating my babushkas’ borsch - the three of my babushkas that I was lucky enough to have in my life growing up, all made their own versions of this beautiful, earthy, nostalgic dish… and here is my own; a riff off of all the babushkas and mama’s before me. Trust me when I say it’s not at all difficult - and the best thing is that it just gets better and better in the fridge. This celebration of winter vegetables is something you absolutely must try". Enjoy, Larissa Sewell.Borsch Method: