Borscht

This recipe is from a friend of ours who lived in Romania for a couple years. It's more of a journey and there aren't set ingredient amounts per se, but more guidelines of what can be added. What I end up using often depends on what I can find/what I feel like adding that day. If you find this concerning or have a question, feel free to leave it in a comment and I will try to address it in a timely manner.

Ingredients

Lamb or Beef chunks (~2 pounds)

Olive or Canola  oil

Garlic cloves

Turnips (2 medium; peeled and cubed)

Rutabagas (1 large; peeled and cubed)

Beets (so many/at least 10, closer to 15; peeled and cubed)

Broth (vegetable, beef, or my preference, chicken)(Swanson Natural Goodness Less Sodium Chicken Broth or other low sodium, non-MSG Chicken Broth)

Bay leaf (one or two)

Ginger (2 inches root or 1 *frozen ginger juice ice cube)

Leeks (2-3 big stocks, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces)

Mushrooms (2-4 cups, sliced, uncooked)

Salt

Pepper

Directions

Brown lamb or beef chunks with a little oil and garlic (I use my Scanpan for this part).

Add root vegetable chunks to a big pot with a little oil on the bottom and set it to low heat, stirring periodically, so they brown lightly. Keep an eye on them though, you don't want them to burn. (I use my largest Le Creuset pot).

Add broth until the vegetables are just covered and then add the meat chunks. (All ingredients so far are in the Le Creuset now).

Season with bay leaves and a little ginger. Sometimes I use a metal tea infuser I fill with bay leaves and dry ginger strips. I just hook it on the side and let it sit in the broth. Other times I use a *frozen ginger juice ice cube. 

Simmer with the lid on until the veggies are tender. You'll want to let the root veggies cook for a while; they should be soft enough to easily stab with a fork. You can cut the time drastically by using an Instant Pot, but if you are using the red beets for a beautiful red borscht color, the pressurized setting on Instant Pot removes a lot of the red color.

Meanwhile, cook chopped leeks (3 stocks) and mushrooms (~1 lb) in a pan (I use my Scanpan again).

Once the ingredients in the large pot are slightly browned and tender, Add leeks and mushrooms. (My Le Cruset is usually almost completely filled by this point.)

Finally, add some salt and pepper to taste (or any other spices you want, I usually just add the bay leaves, ginger, salt, and pepper, but some people even use orange juice)

Serve topped with sour cream (if desired) and crusty bread and ginger beer.

*To make frozen ginger juice ice cubes, I purree washed ginger root sections in my high-speed blender with some water and then strain the juice through a nylon mesh (nut milk bag) and freeze the juice in ice cube trays. Once the ginger cubes are frozen, I transfer them to a gallon-size Ziploc freezer bag and store them in the freezer for several months.

Please appropriately recycle washed and dried Ziploc bags with other plastic film materials.