richard A family gathering in Suffolk this weekend meant I was able to plunder my sister’s vegetable patch and return home with a binbags worth of wonderful homegrown produce. Along with a variety of beans, carrots and onions, my swag consisted of several kilos of beetroot as big as your face. The obvious thing to do was to make a bucket of borsch and stock up the freezer. This particular recipe comes courtesy of Gregg ‘COOKING DOZEN GET TUFFER THAN THIS!!!!’ Wallace.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Skill level: easy
Ingredients
- fresh beetroot – peeled and diced – 475g
- 1 carrot – diced
- 1 onion – finely chopped
- 1 potato – diced
- 2 cloves of garlic – crushed
- vegetable stock (should really be chicken) – 850 ml
- sugar – 1tbsp
- s & p
To finish off:
- soured cream
- fresh dill
Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion, carrot, potato and garlic and cook on a low heat until softened – about 15 minutes.
A good stash of beets
Add the beetroot and sugar and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for an hour.
Blitz with a hand blender.
Serve with a large blob of soured cream and a generous scattering of dill.
Verdict: Well it’s borsch, innit. Can’t go wrong. The soured cream and (generous amounts of) dill are essential though.
Drink: Nipped around the corner for a pint or two of Star.
Entertainment: Season 4 of The Wire is being rationed to one episode each Sunday evening. We are now on episode 48 ‘A New Day’ – “You play in dirt, you get dirty” – McNulty.
