Use your beets to make borscht! Photo by Scott David Gordon

By Megan Winfrey

Hey ya'll!

This week, I proudly checked a dish off of "my list" - you know, the list we all keep of dishes that we eventually want to make ourselves. When I saw the beautiful red cabbage and beets in last week's CSA box, it felt like fate screaming out "BORSCHT, BORSCHT!" So I went for it. And it was delicious.

I modified a classic recipe to accommodate what I had in the kitchen. Enjoy!

Russian Borscht 

3 beets

3 red potatoes, sliced

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 carrots, grated

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 small head of cabbage, shredded

2 bay leaves

4 tbs. ketchup

6 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Juice of one lemon

Fresh ground pepper

Salt

Olive Oil

Greek Yogurt



Fill a large pot with 10 cups of water. Boil the beets until tender, around 45 minutes to an hour. Once they are finished, set aside to cool. KEEP THE BEET WATER.

Add the sliced potatoes to the same water and boil until tender, about 15 minutes.

When the potatoes are half done boiling, add the shredded cabbage.

Keep the pot on a low boil from now until you serve.

Add some olive oil to a skillet and sauté the shredded carrots, onion, and garlic until soft. Stir in the ketchup when they are almost done.

Once the beets are cool, peel and slice into matchsticks. Add them back into the pot.

Add in the stock, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and bay leaves. Add the carrot, onion and garlic mixture.

Cook another 5-10 minutes so everything can meld together.

Serve hot or cold with a dollop of greek yogurt and crusty bread.