Vegetable Borscht

Beet and cabbage season is here! In our household that means it is time to make a huge stockpot pot of borscht! This post offers another full recipe from my recently published book.

Sep 30, 2023

This stuff is a powerhouse for nutrition and tastes amazing. Roasting the beets with skins on preserves their juicy flavors and mineral content. Grating them into the soup after cooking/cooling makes this one easy to construct. Pan frying the wild rice prior to adding to the soup splits them open as they cook adding a nice meaty texture. The shiitake mushrooms offer an added umami layer to the already rich flavor profile resulting in a extremely nourishing and satisfying soup.

It freezes well and can be enjoyed either hot or cold depending on the time of the year. The ingredient list was inspired by what we had extra of coming out of the garden one chilly evening in late September years ago. Your time spent in the kitchen gulag will be well rewarded with enticing flavors and the amazing health benefits of beets as well as dark leafy greens which are both abundant in this hefty, ‘stick to your gut’ soup.

This time of year I am often harvesting a bunch of beets, onions, brassica leaves and other anthocyanin rich leafy greens and I love to use these to make soups.

harvesting amaranth greens for adding to our Borscht

Containing a diverse range of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, beneficial bacteria and polyphenols this meal not only covers all the nutritional bases... it hits a home run and sends the ball outta the park into the realm of medicinal superfoods.

( FYI: This is my own take on Borscht. I am not claiming that the recipe is “traditional” or “genuine” to any regional style, it is just how we like to enjoy our beets, cabbage, greens, herbs and root veggies in a soup.)

Vegetable Borscht

Ingredients:

- 5 medium-large onions (or a mix of leeks/onions)

- 4 to 6 medium-large beets with the greens

- ½ of one purple or green cabbage

- 1 bunch of kale (Approx 4 cups chopped)

- 5-7 shiitake mushrooms (diced)

- 2 stalks of celery

- 2 large tomato

- 4 to 5 large carrots

- 1 large (or 2 small-medium) parsnips

- 2 medium sweet potatoes

- 2 medium-large potatoes

- 1-2 cups wild rice

- 1 sprig of Rosemary

- 12 to 16 cups of veggie broth

- ½ of one bunch of parsley

- lemon wedge

- black pepper to taste

- olive oil for roasting veggies

- dill to taste (Approx one-half bunch for us)

(optional)

quinoa or sprouted lentils add extra of both if you want a very filling protein rich version (though wild rice and shiitake do add protein on their own too)
Nettle
Amarnath Greens

Directions:

Set oven to 350 convection roast. Begin soup preparation by washing any soil or debris off the beetroots and greens. Then cut the greens off the top of the beetroot leaving about an inch of stem sticking out of the beets and place the greens in a glass or Tupperware with some water to keep them crisp while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Peel the parsnip and carrot and chop into two-inch-long sections. Wash the mushrooms and tomatoes and then place them in a large roasting pan, add the beets (with their skin on, carrot and parsnip chunks and add one onion roughly chopped. Drizzle the veggies in olive oil and then place in the oven with the lid closed tight.

While the veggies roast starts to build the soup base. Begin by frying the wild rice with a bit of oil on medium high heat in a large stockpot (constantly stirring for 3-4 minutes) then add the remaining onions (diced) with a drizzle of olive oil and sauté until transparent. Once the onions are soft and transparent, add the broth to the pot and set the heat to medium-high. Dice up the roasted veggies then add those to the broth as well. Next dice up the parsley, rosemary and half of the dill (approx 1/4 bunch or 2-3 tablespoons) and add it to the broth. Cut the sweet potatoes and regular potatoes into nice bite-sized cubes, then add to the pot.

As the pot of broth and ingredients are simmering check to see if the beets and other veggies in the roasting pan are cooked (if a fork can pass through a medium-sized beet easily then they are ready to come out of the oven.) If the soup starts to boil before veggies are roasted turn it down to a low temperature and simmer at that setting until roasting veggies are ready. Wash kale leaves and add them to the same container as beet greens.

Once roasted veggie ingredients have cooled sufficiently so they can be safely handled, take the beets and use a grater to grate them into the pot. (Don't worry if weird-shaped pieces break off from time to time or if you left with a gnarly "beet rind" at the end of grating one. Just dice it up or chuck it in as-is! :) Dice up all the other veggies and add to the pot. Turn the heat back up to high and bring to a boil and then turn it back down to low.

Dice up the beet greens and kale, add to a separate large pan with a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Saute on medium-high only until just soft (no more than three minutes) then add to the soup. Dice up the cabbage and do the same as you did with the leafy greens. (Cabbage does take longer to cook so at least 5 min on medium-high.)

Add black pepper to taste and more dill if you think it needs it.

For another layer of awesomeness, richness and nutrition serve each bowl with a dollop of plain organic unpasteurized yogurt or sour cream and garnish with dill. And Alakazam! That's my borscht! As stated above, it can be served cold or hot. Hope you like it.