What's Cooking: Borsch

This is a vegetarian version of borsch, but it can easily be cooked with a little bit of beef for a more smooth meaty flavor. (See notes below).

Cabbage just added to the borsch

Ingredients:

• 5-6 medium red beets (more if the beets are tiny)
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced or pushed through the garlic press
• 1-2 carrots chopped
• 1 fresh tomato, or 1-2 tomatoes from a can (optional)
• fresh dill
• 4 medium potatoes
• cabbage (I end up using less than one head, so pick a small one)
• black pepper
• bay leaf

"Magic ingredients":

• Some acidic liquid, e.g.
• Vinegar or
• brine from dill pickles or really anything pickled, e.g. banana peppers
• tomato juice
• Stems from fresh parsley, and/or dill, cilantro

1. Peel the beets. Put them in a large pot with water and bring to boil. (You can cut them into large cubes for faster cooking.)  While the water is heating up, add 1-2 table spoons of your "acidic liquid" of choice. Add 3-5 black peppers, 1 bay leaf and the stems from the fresh herbs if using. (These are just for flavor--you can fish all of them out before serving.) When the liquid boils, lower the heat and let it simmer, until the beets are almost cooked. 
2. This step can be done either while the beets are cooking or in advance (e.g. 1-2 days ahead). Chop onions. Peel and shred (or thinly chop) carrots. Saute onions and carrots. (It is really yummy in butter, but for health reasons sauteing in vegetable oil works just as well). When sauteing is almost done, add tomatoes and cook for a couple of more minutes. Set aside.
3. Peel potatoes and cut them into large cubes.
4. Chop the cabbage
5. When the beets are cooked, fish them out of the beet broth.
6. Add sauted onions and carrots, and potatoes to the broth and continue simmering. (Depending on whether your like your cabbage crispy or well boiled, you can add it to the beet broth now, or later when the potatoes are almost done).
7. Shred the beets and add them back into the broth.
8. Continue simmering until potatoes are fully cooked.
9. Serve with sour cream and fresh dill

Notes:

• I usually make it in a 6 quart pot, but by no means do I fill up the pot with water. (Although I do often end up with borsch that does have more stuff than liquid in it:). But you can always add more liquid later, as you go.
• If you want to make a beef based borsch, just throw in a beef bone, or some stew kind of beef at the same time as you start cooking the beets.