Classic Beef Borscht | Rachael Ray
During Rach's most recent trip to Ukraine, she taught kids at a youth education center how to make a classic beef borscht. Although the country considers borscht a national dish, many of them had never prepared it. Suffice it to say, both the cooking lesson and the resulting deeply flavored beet-based soup were a big hit!
For more from our special Ukraine episode, Rachael takes us inside a safe house and shares an emotional visit with the mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil
- 1 ½ pounds tri-tip beef (bottom sirloin), cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 2 ribs celery with leafy tops, chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- Salt and pepper
- 1 large fresh bay leaf
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
- 3 large beets with leafy greens, beets peeled and diced; greens chopped and kept separate from beets
- 2 quarts beef bone broth or stock
- 1 quart water
- 1 cup (8 ounces) tomato sauce
- 4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced or cubed
- 3 to 4 cups chopped red cabbage (half a cabbage)
- 2 tablespoons each chopped dill, parsley and chives
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Sour cream, to serve
- Warm rustic rye or sourdough bread, to serve
Heat olive or canola oil in soup pot over medium-high to high heat. Brown meat 7 to 8 minutes, then remove. Reduce heat a bit, add butter and onions, carrots, celery, ground cumin and coriander, sugar, salt, pepper and bay leaf. Soften a few minutes, add garlic and stir a minute. Add beets, beef, stock, water and tomato sauce and simmer at low boil 45 minutes. Add potatoes and cook 15 minutes more. Add beet greens and cabbage and simmer 5 to 10 minutes more. Add herbs and lemon juice and serve with sour cream and warm bread.