Bear’s Borscht…

This is borscht done my way and I call it “Bear’s Borscht,” I know a certain young lady named Sveta in Moscow, who is going to see this and start wishing she was here right now. The ingredients are all from our garden and I will eat this borscht without meat, maybe tomorrow (?), I will add a chicken breast, but tonight, it is veggy borscht. Also to the above images, salt and pepper according to your taste…

I bought smetana (sour cream,) for it is not borscht without sour cream…

So you need potatoes, beets, carrots, onions, garlic, salt, pepper and whatever else you like. This is not an official recipe from Russians, but a recipe from Bear and it is his version of borscht. 😉

Put the pot on a low flame or heat and ignore for awhile. Let it cook and watch just to keep from boiling over. I will explain something; I peel my beets before I cook them, Russians do not. I like the purple to saturate the water and I use the same water to cook beets as the soup. Russians will cook their beets, chill them, peel them and make soup from the peeled and chopped up beets in fresh water. Russians also, dice everything into small bits, I am a grouchy bear and just cut things up to make me happy. You do it the way you like, but I like my beet soup…

Oh, see that carrot? That is the small one in the garden and it is so sweet to eat. I am stunned at the carrots we grew this year…

Will update after the soup is done…

Soup is a mainstay in Russia. A meal without soup is virtually not a meal and many meals are nothing but soup. I make my soups with much more ingredients than a Russian would use and your soups are just that, a thin runny food, with small pieces of products. Real soup, not more veggies than water…

Cook until the biggest chunks slide back off a sharp knife. This pot was done in about an hour…

I am going to eat two bowls of this soup. It is so good and sweet. I really had to salt it heavy to keep the soup from being a candy taste. The beets and carrots are very sweet from this garden and the beets would be incredible pickled. That may just be a great idea, pickled beats for the winter time!

By the way, it does not need any meat in anyway what so ever and if you do not like sour cream, then maybe do not make the soup. It has to have sour cream to make it Russian… 😉

Have a nice day, for I will, you see my dinner tonight…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: The garden has produced the most wonderful vegetables. The beets are sweet, huge and not woody at all. The carrots are like eating a sugar cube and they just keep growing, the onions are just right and do not seem to be hot, even after drying and the potatoes are perfect for any dish…