A Delicious Borsch Recipe

Holy Crap. Look out. It’s a Borsch recipe from someone who’s heritage didn’t have Borsch!

I can normally get all the ingredients from the local grocery store for under $25. You WILL have leftover ingredients, so get creative and come up with some other meal ideas with the extras!

HoKay. Below is the ingredient list (For the spices, I just do what feels right throughout the process)

Ingredients:

1 lb Stew Beef (or beef chunk, trimmed and cubed)

1 teaspoon each: dried basil, groun black pepper, smoked paprika

2 teaspoons sea salt

2 Tablespoons of olive oil

6-8 cups beef broth (more broth = more soup! I use two boxes of Wegmans organic or Swanson broth depending on sales)

1 medium to large onion, diced

3 Carrots, diced

1-2 Celery Stalks, diced

3 Large Beets, diced

2-3 Large Potatoes, cubed to about an inch

2 cups shredded cabbage (1/4 of a cabbage) (I slice mine by hand, it’s good enough)

2 Tablespoons fresh dill, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

2-3 green scallions, diced

FOR THE SAUCE!

1 medium onion, diced

2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed/sliced/diced/minced/whateva

1 small can (like 1 cup size) tomato sauce or puree

¼ Cup of Ketchup (you read that correctly)

1 cup water

¼ teaspoon each: salt, black pepper

 Directions:

Here. We. Go.

1. Coat the bottom of a large pot (I use a Dutch Oven) with some olive oil.
   1. Warm that sucka up over some low-medium heat.
   2. You’re about to sauté, not deep fry.
2. Drop in the beef and cook thoroughly
   1. Add some salt and pepper to taste
3. Once the beef is done cooking, remove from the pot and place in a bowl for later.
4. Start sautéing your mirepoix (onion/carrot/celery mix)
5. Once it’s all nice and cooked up, add the beef back into the pot, add the beets and add the broth
6. Add a little more salt and pepper, add some paprika if you feel inclined and add some dried basil.
7. STIR IT UP! MmmmMMMMMmmmmMMMMMmmmMMMMMmm
8. Get that thing back up to a nice simmer, reduce heat to low and let it ride/simmer for the rest of the time.
9. Set a timer for 45 mins.
10. When the timer goes off, start making the sauce!
    1. Put some olive oil in a frying pan
    2. Sauté the onion and garlic until golden brown (you know what’s up)
    3. Add the tomato sauce/puree, ketchup, water, and salt/pepper
    4. Simmer until the sauce reduces down to a nice marinara consistency (probably about 10 mins or so)
11. ADD THAT SAUCE TO THE POT!!!!!
12. While you’re at it, why not add in those cubed up potatoes, they look like they could use a good soak.
13. Set a timer for 10 mins.
14. When that timer goes off, add in the cabbage, fresh dill, fresh parsley, and scallions.
15. STIR IT UP! MmmmMMMMMMmmmmMMMMMMmmmMMMMMmm
16. Set another timer for 5 mins.
17. When the timer goes off, turn off the stove, remove from heat and cover.
18. STIR IT UP! MmmmMMMMMmmmmMMMMMmmmMMMMMmm
19. Let it sit for at least an hour.
20. It should still be warm enough at this point so dish it out and enjoy!
    1. You can serve this delicious meal garnished with a sprig of fresh dill if you like to be fancy.
    2. If you want to go old school Russian hardcore traditional style, add a dollop of sour cream or mayonnaise on top.
       1. I know this sounds weird as hell, but I tried it with the sour cream and it was REALLY Freaking good.
          1. It kinda made it taste like a baked potato
          2. The sour cream will sort of separate out and look gross as little sour cream balls. It’s normal.
             1. It still tastes great.
                1. So good.
                   1. MmmmMMMMMmmmmMMMMMmmmMMMMMmm

*To make this paleo, swap out the potatoes for some rutabaga. You just need to boil the rutabaga separately for about 20 mins before adding it into the soup*

If you have any questions, feel free to ask below. If you have any comments or suggestions, also, pop them down below!