Fall recipes: Beet and beet-green borscht

(Photo by author)

At first blush, you wouldn't associate borscht, that sturdy Eastern European staple, with sunny seasonless San Diego. But the small local farms that show up at our farmer's markets and supply our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs actually raise some beautiful beets, including some non-standard varieties such as candycane beets--and they're coming back into season as of this month.

Most borscht recipes tend to just use the beet roots, combining them with cabbage and other vegetables. This one is unique in that it makes thrifty use of the entire beet, root, stem, and greens, all of which are delicious. The beet roots are roasted before being added to the soup pot, to give this vegetarian soup added depth of flavor.

Beet and beet-green borscht

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch young beets (preferably <1.5" diameter) with greens intact
• 3 T olive oil
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, with leaves, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1/2 oz dried mushrooms
• 4 c vegetable broth or water
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 T vinegar (cider or red wine)
• 6 whole peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp dill seed
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 300 deg. F. Cut the greens from the beets, leaving a minimum of 1" of stems on the beetroots. Wash the greens carefully to remove all grit, and reserve. Gently wash the beets with a scrubbie to remove dirt, but don't scrub so hard as to break the beets' skin. Place the whole beets in an oven-proof dish, drizzle with about a tablespoon of olive oil, and massage oil into the beets. Cover and bake in oven for about an hour or until the beets are just barely tender.

While the beets are baking, get all the rest of your mise-en-place together. In addition to chopping the onions, carrot, celery, and garlic, put the mushrooms in to soak in hot water to cover (the hottest water from your sink is fine) for a half hour. When they are done soaking, squeeze out as much liquid as you can, reserving that and the soaking liquid. Filter the soaking liquid through a coffee filter if it looks at all gritty. Chop the mushrooms.

Separate the leaves of the beet greens from their stems. Slice the leaves roughly into 3/4-inch strips. Chop the stems.

When the beets are tender enough that you can slide the tip of a sharp knife into one with only a moderate amount of resistance, remove from the oven. When they're just cool enough to handle, remove the skins by wrapping each beet in a paper towel and massaging till the skins slip off. (NOTE: the paper towel offers little protection against the beet juice. If you really don't want your hands stained pink, wear rubber gloves.) Remove and discard the root-tips as well as the stem-ends; halve the beets lengthwise and slice thinly.

Add the remaining olive oil to a large soup pot on medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, celery, carrots, and beet stems, plus a couple generous pinches of salt, and sweat over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, for ten to fifteen minutes or until even the carrots are starting to get soft. Add the mushrooms and their soaking liquid, the beets, the vinegar, dill seed, bay leaf, peppercorns, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the broth or water. Bring just barely up to a boil; stir in the beet greens.

Cover and turn heat to low. Simmer for an hour or until all the vegetables are soft. Adjust seasonings, including the vinegar.

This soup definitely profits from being made a day ahead and kept overnight in the refrigerator. Can be served hot or cold; can be garnished with sour cream or yogurt if you don't need it to be full-on vegan.