Borscht

There once was a time in my life, hard to believe, that I had never tried beets. I adore them now. For some reason, I'd forgotten my love, and haven't had them in a while. This is all changing today, starting with this borscht. I got the recipe from A Feast of Ice and Fire cookbook, which is an incredible cookbook. I cannot get enough of it, and I cannot more highly recommend it. There are a plethora of recipes, and I've made almost all of them since buying it about a year ago. They have a website as well, Inn at the Crossroads, which has a number of different recipes, equally delicious. 

Since I think they are incredibly deserving of receiving money for their fantastic recipe, I'm not going to include amounts, just give a general overview of the recipe, to pique your interest.

First, I peeled my beets and gave them a good dice.

Then, I chopped leeks and washed them thoroughly. The way that leeks grow causes them to store dirt in between the rings, so its better to wash them after you cut them. Besides, it helps separate the rings for cooking anyway. 

After everything is chopped, coat the bottom of a medium saucepan with olive oil. Toss in the leeks, and ground coriander and cumin. Saute this for 5 minutes. I stopped at about this level of cooked: 

Then, add chicken broth, wine, red wine vinegar and your beets. 

 Once I added everything, it looked like the picture above. You then let the soup simmer, covered, for 45 minutes to an hour, until the beets are cooked. Since I diced my beets so small, they cooked in probably 35 minutes. (I take very small bites, so I've gotten used to cutting things quite small. It's not a bad habit to have, practicing your knife skills.)

I think that perhaps my lid was not on tightly, because it got drier than I was expecting for a soup. I mashed up the leeks and beets with a potato masher, and then added about a cup of water back in. I also found the vinegar taste to be quite strong, another reason why I added the water.

Overall, I found that this soup had good flavor, but next time I would make it with more spices and less vinegar. I'm a huge fan of coriander and cumin, and not a huge fan of vinegar, so I think it's just a personal preference. 

Another successful recipe from A Feast of Ice and Fire!