Don't call it borscht: chunky beet soup

Years ago, Annalena worked with a gal pal named Natalia, who was from Siberia.  One day, thrilled to death that she had made her first borscht, Annalena brought in a sample to Natalia.   Annalena's friend looked at it,  looked up and said  

"where is the cabbage?  I do not see any cabbage."  Annalena replied that there wasn't any in it, and got the response  "then take it away. It is not borscht without the cabbage." 

Well,  that may have been a slaw slap, or something like that, but Annalena learned her lesson.  She could call it beet soup, but she could NOT call it borscht.  And so it is here, ragazzi, as we venture into the world of soups that are vegan, easy to make,  and inexpensive. Let's change that to CHEAP. 

When Annalena saw this recipe, she clipped it out and planned to use it at some point in the future.  The future became the present, however, when she came back from the farmers market with two bags of gorgeous beets, and got some in her weekly CSA.  The Guyman and Annalena both love beets, but mostly eat them in salads.    So, the backburner became the front burner, as Annalena was looking for something to make for Sunday lunch. And here it is.  When you see how easy it is to make, you will make it too - if you are a beet fan.    

To make this, you need a 28 or 32 ounce can of GOOD QUALITY Italian tomatoes. The whole ones, please.  You also need a medium size (say 6 ounce) onion, or a very large leek - again, the Farmers Market coming in.  Two cloves of minced garlic.  Also, a pound and a half of beets.  Please use the red ones, or the chioggia striped ones for this soup.  The yellow ones simply don't have the color.   You also want a very large, or two smaller, carrots,  and a teaspoon of cumin and a quarter of that, of cayenne pepper. 

Annalena swears you will be out of the kitchen, in twenty minutes, and you'll be eating in 90.  Chop up your onion or your leek - a dice for the onion, or thin circles of the leeks.  Peel the carrots, and peel the beets (and you can use one, pound and a half beet if you like:  size doesn't matter here).   Cut both the carrots and the beets into cubes about half inch big.  And you've pretty much finished your prep work.   

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a soup pot, and then add the onion, and the garlic.  Cook this until the oven begins to soften - it will take about five minutes.  Then, take the can of tomatoes, and crush the tomatoes with your hands.  That's all.  Pour it all into the soup  pot.  Then add the carrots, the beets, and the spices.  Add some salt, and some pepper.   Add enough water to cover everthing by about an inch. This is what you get: 

 Put a cover on the pot, but leave it partially ajar, and bring the soup to the boil.  Then, lower it to a slow simmer, and go away for an hour.   When you come back:

Add some more seasoning, if you like, and you're ready to eat. 

No meat, no dairy, no nothing.  This soup has a sourness from the tomatoes that is reminiscent of borscht, but it is NOT borscht (Natalia told me that).  But it's good.  It's nourishing, it's easy, it's cheap, and as you see, we got two quarts of this stuff.  Go to it, gang.