Everything Is Better With Borscht

(photo courtesy of pixabay.com)

 

Everything is better with borscht. And nothing is truer on a bitter winter day. This winter has been colder than usual here in NC. We even had an amazing 10 inches of snow in February. In fact, it snowed Monday - little wispy flakes that swirled around but didn't stick. So on Tuesday I decided it was a soup kind of day. I'd always wanted to make borscht so I did some research on this traditional Russian and Ukranian soup, checked out a bunch of different recipes and then went to work on my own - starting with homemade chicken stock. The result was thinner than I would have liked and next time I'll probably increase the amount of roasted beets I use for a thicker consistency.

 

Borscht

• 1 qt chicken stock
• 6 medium to large beets, roasted and cubed
• 3 carrots, diced
• half head of cabbage, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• quarter onion, finely chopped
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 teas sea salt
• 1/2 cup sweet Italian sausage, browned and drained.

In a stock pot brown onion and minced garlic in olive oil. Add chicken stock, beets, carrots, cabbage and sausage. Simmer until carrots and cabbage are tender, about 10 minutes.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream. Serves 4.