Recipe: Borscht

I’ve heard that every Eastern European or Russian family has their own borscht recipe that is “the right one”, so I make no claims here that this recipe is anything but a yummy recipe! This borscht recipe was passed on to me by a family friend and Farm Share member, Debbie. It was my first foray into borscht and I was impressed, I always had thought of borsht as just beets so the addition of cabbage, carrots, parsnips, onions, and beef made it more of a stew - and a perfect stew for the autumn or winter.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups shredded green cabbage

• 1.5 pounds beets, shredded

• 5 carrots

• 1 parsnip

• 1 medium yellow onion

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 pound beef stew meat (Debbie also suggested, and I tried, 1 pound of ground beef)

• 1 can diced tomatoes

• 3 cans of beef broth (or 5 cups of homemade broth)

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 1 TBSP sugar

• 1 tsp black pepper

• 1 tsp salt

• Sour cream

Directions:

If using ground beef, brown beef until cooked. Shred cabbage and place in the bottom of a slow cooker. Wash and shred beets and place on top of cabbage. Peel carrots and parsnip. Cut carrots and parsnip into 1 inch pieces and place on top of cabbage and beets. Dice onion and mince garlic. Add on top of the rest of vegetables. Add browned ground beef or uncooked stew meat (depending on what you decide to use). Do NOT drain the diced tomatoes, pour the can of diced tomatoes, including the liquid, on top of all of the ingredients. Add beef broth, lemon juice, sugar, and spices. Cook in the slow cooker on low for 7 to 10 hours. Garnish with sour cream if desired. Enjoy with a hearty slice of bread!