Grandma's Borscht

As much as we would like to always eat vegan, we have stumbled into a few obstacles:

1) Sudden cravings for Wisconsin cheese
2) Passover

and the newest one,

3) Tamar's Grandma's recipes.

In respect for my Grandma Lydia's cooking - cherished in the Hellman family clan- I cannot get myself to start finding substitutes for the eggs and dairy in her recipes. So as I start to run through my grandma's 1,000+ recipes in the coming months, veganism will have to be temporarily pushed aside, hopefully not for more than a few hours at a time...

We picked up beets from our CSA last week, and knowing that my grandma's borscht is legendary, we decided to tackle her recipe. Like many of my grandma's recipe notecards, this one needed a little deciphering:



One thing was easy to understand: the heart in the corner meant this was a Hellman family classic.

We used Grandma's recipe as a guideline. We had fresh beets and no sour salt (I didn't even know such a thing existed until wikipedia explained it to me). To be honest, we didn't really measure anything as we went along - we relied on constant taste testing. So following is our recipe, based on the above, but it should also be used only as a guideline, depending on your own taste.

Borscht

1 lb beets (about 3 beets), peeled and shredded - thank you, Cuisinart.
1.5-2 cups water
1/4 cup greek yogurt
2 tsp lemon juice
Garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper to taste

Bring beets, water and some salt to a boil on medium heat, add spices, and let simmer for a few more minutes so that beets are tender but still crisp. Take beets off the heat, and let cool for 10 minutes. Stir in yogurt, lemon juice and additional seasonings to taste.

Best to refrigerate for an hour before serving. Though in our case, I think we lasted for about 15 minutes before we gave in and ate. In keeping with our polish neighborhood cuisine, we ate the borscht alongside store-bought mushroom and sauerkraut pierogies.

Baker Boy Lives Up to His Name

Back when we started dating, Greg used to leave me loaves of bread in my mailbox (so much better than getting real mail). Since we've moved away from Madison and the industrial ovens at the Nature's Bakery, I've been awaiting the day that I come home to smell fresh, homemade bread.

Today was the day.

Greg made French bread - without using our bread machine - and served it alongside roasted garlic (from our CSA!), marinated artichokes, and brie. We also had a bowl of leftover cream of broccoli soup, which was even more delicious two days later.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

(adapted from Sunny Anderson's Cream of Asparagus Soup)

1 TBSP Earth Balance + 2 rounds around the pot of olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 lb broccoli, florets and peeled stems chopped

4 cups vegetable broth (or 4 cups water + 2 MSG-less veggie bouillon cubes)

1 small container greek yogurt (6-8 oz)

1 tsp lemon juice

salt, pepper, paprika

In a large pot, heat oil and EB and sautee (on medium heat) onion and broccoli stems for 3-5 minutes, until onion is somewhat translucent. Add broccoli florets and garlic, and season vegetables with salt, pepper and paprika. Cover and steam for another 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add vegetable broth, cover, and let simmer for 35-40 minutes until broccoli is tender. Turn off heat, and blend vegetables using either an immersion blender (our tool of choice) or a regular blender. Whisk in greek yogurt and lemon juice and adjust seasoning to taste.

Given that we're not gourmet chefs, we had white specs in our soup and occasionally choked on a few broccoli floret remnants here and there. But you know what, it was totally worth it.