Back from sabbatical: Annalena makes Borscht

Did you wonder where Annalena had gone, ragazzi?  Did you think you were rid of her forever? HA!  No, carissimi, she just needed some time away from things.  There were days when her head was so fogged up, she literally thought it would explode.  And of course, life gets in the way, doesn't it?  The last time she wrote, Annalena was basking in the warm weather and the late summer produce. And now?  Ragazzi, daylight savings time has ended,  the berries are gone, so are the plums, we are about to enter citrus time.   All in a month, because yes, it has been just about a month.

So we are here, prior to Thanksgiving, in a period where, let us face it, our tastes turn to soups, braises, slow cooking, WARM things. And rich sweets.  Let's not forget those (Annalena certainly hasn't).  And we will have all of those, but first, we are going to go way East for Annalena, and make:  borscht.

To be honest, Annalena has been befuddled by borscht, and never really liked it.  As her gal pal, the Lady from Siberia (Annalena is serious about this), once told her:  "everything has bad versions. Get a good one.  "  Of course, short of visiting  Brighton Beach, Annalena knew not where to get one.  She would see it come out in restaurants,  with chunks of meat in it that looked, well, like something from the cat litter pan, or stuff the pink color of that dreadful medicine Pepto Bismol. So, no thank you.  Then, Annalena tried making one, one year, using no recipe.   She presented her credentials to the Lady from Siberia who looked at her and said  "you didn't mention cabbage.  Did you put it in the soup?"  Annalena had not.  The response was quick, and direct  "if there's no cabbage in it, it's not borscht.  It's just beet soup."

And THAT as they say, was THAT.  Think of it as a culinary bitch slap, if you will.

Not one to bear grudges, the Lady from Siberia brought some of her OWN borscht to Annalena one day. Indeed, Annalena has to say that the recipe which follows will not match the one she tried. . But she will go head to head on lasagna making any time.

Fact is, ragazzi, if you explore this little miniworld, you will find as many recipes as you find  Russian cooks. Indeed, probably more, because other Eastern Europeans will swear that borscht is not Russian, but... theirs.

Annalena goes with the historical evidence here, however, and sides with the view that it is Russian.  So, here we go. Annalena's tribute to Ms. N (who is, in fact, the Lady from Siberia), with borscht filtered through Italian eyes.

If you like beets, this is for you.  If you don't, look at another recipe.  You need beets, potatoes, onions, and cabbage.  And we are now going to discuss quantities. As Annalena studied the recipes, she found that the weight amount of beets and potatoes, is about the same. So, if you start with 1.5 pounds of potatoes (which is a good amount), you will need 1.5 pounds of beets.  And so on, and so forth.  Peel both, and cut them into small cubes.

You will also need a couple of onions, the yellow ones, sliced thin.  If you up the quantities  from 1.5 pounds each of potatoes and beets, then up the onions too.  Finally, the cabbage.  Annalena used savoy:  this is the crinkly one, and she used the leaves from the outside of the head, because of what she was going to do with them, which was cook them forever.    Here again, your quantities are approximate.  Now, you are not weighing. Rather, you are slicing the cabbage into strips, and measuring volume.  You will want a volume of cabbage that is about the same as the beets and  potatoes, combined.  That is not a tremendous amount of cabbage, because  as a leafy green , it takes up much space.  Annalena used about four, very large leaves.    You can vary these proportions of course.  More cabbage will give you a more vegetal soup; fewer potatoes will make it thinner.  Annalena's hair cutter chided her for not putting in a cup of carrots. As you will.  They will sweeten the soup.

Put about a quarter cup (four tablespoons ) of oil (vegetable), into a big soup pot, together with the onions, and cook them at low heat until they begin to soften.  Add a hefty tablespoon of salt.  We're working with root veggies here, ragazzi, and we're making a LOT of soup.    Now add the beets  and the potatoes, and toss them with the onions in the pot, until everything gets covered with the oil.  Finally, add about two quarts of liquid:  Annalena recommends one quart of chicken stock and one quart of water. Beef stock is used, sometimes, but Annalena feels that beefstock destroys the flavor of your vegetables.  Water will make the soup totally vegetarian, but in Annalena's view, it is not as flavorful.  She has never found a vegetable stock she likes. So we compromise.

Cover the pot, leaving it slightly ajar, lower the heat, and bring it to a boil.  When that happens, add the cabbage, and then replace the cover the same way.

Go away.  Seriously, go away.  For at least half an hour, because that's how long the beets will take to soften, and it will probably take longer.  Test with a knife, to see if the beets are tender.  They will be the item that takes the longest to cook (it took Annalena in excess of an hour).  A good way to tell is to take a potato masher, and then see if you can crush the beets. If you can, they're ready.  If not....

Taste it and adjust the salt , because you will need more.  Now, if you like your soup a bit more sour, get a jar of pickles (GOOD quality pickles.. NOT the kind that the ketchup maker has their label on), and add some of that juice.  Should you not have this, you can use white vinegar.  Look at what happens to the beets when you add it.  Nice and bright.

When everything is cool, puree it in batches (this is Annalena's way.  Not everyone agrees). You will get a magenta colored soup, that is truly delicious.

As for the tradition of sour cream, Annalena is all for it.  She puts a big scoop of it in the middle of the bowl, and swirls it slightly, but does not go for making everything icky pink.

Annalena got three quarts of soup out of this, so use that as your guide, ragazzi.  This is a big soup. Share it.  Have someone bring some rye bread, and someone bring some pickles, and so on.   We are in winter.  Get used to it.