Borscht

Hearty. Chunky. Satisfying. Warming. 

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30 cm acrylic on canvas. The Ukrainian folk art of egg decorating, known as Pysanky, interpreted as a bowl of soup.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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The meatless meals recipe

As you may well be aware, Borscht is a Slavic recipe that celebrates beetroot. What's there to get excited about when it comes to beets? Well, the Oracle at Delphi (of Greek mythology, not of software companies) claimed that beetroot was second only in mystical potency to horseradish, and that it was worth its weight in silver. Beetroot contains betaine, which in other forms is used to help treat depression, and trytophan, which is that woohoo-feel-good chemical in chocolate. If these aren't enough, in many cultures there is the belief that if a man and a woman eat from the same beetroot they will fall in love... A pretty good outcome from a Meatless Monday? This recipe is my adaptation of the Borscht in The New Covent Garden Soup Company's Book of Soups.

500g raw washed beets, grated

500g red cabbage, finely shredded

360g potato, diced small

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3 tomatoes, pureed or diced fine

125g butter

1.2L strong stock

1 medium onion, grated

1 carrot, grated

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon raw sugar

Put the beetroot, cabbage and potato in a large pan with the tomato, vinegar, HALF the butter and all the stock.

Simmer for one hour.

In another pan, melt the remaining butter and saute the carrot and onion until golden.

Add to the beets.

Cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste and add the sugar.

Makes 6 very red bowls.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Want to check out more vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

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