Today I made Martha's Summer Borscht soup, a cold version of Borscht. We really liked it. Better than as a hot soup.
Find the recipe here: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/summer-borscht-with-tzatziki?autonomy_kw=summer borscht
Friday I went to Whole Paycheck and got too much produce. The bag was really heavy to carry to Metro. And the cashier put my lovely peaches on the bottom, then heavy beets and tomatoes on top, so I had to step over to one of their booths and redistribute. Then, the tomatoes had rung up wrong, and the avocados, so I had to go to customer service. They refunded the price of the tomatoes, and a dollar for the avocados (since that's how much they rung up over).
Anyway, here are some pictures, because I clearly don't have any artwork to show you.
I got too many beets. Organic, and local (from PA).
Sometimes cut beets are really pretty inside. Back in Grad School, when I worked at the Juice Bar at Squash Blossom (Memphis, 1996-98) I loved cutting up the beets. I used to press them on my t-shirt to make beet prints, and was so disappointed that it never stained the clothing (I wanted it to). At first, I didn't like the carrot juice. And the thought of putting beets in it sounded so gross - but it was really good. I finally tasted some (there was always a bit leftover after pouring a cup) and I was surprised the beet makes it taste really sweet. I haven't had fresh carrot juice in forever. Carrot Ginger Beet is a good combo.
See how pretty?!
Another pretty one. In Grad School, I would have had something to say about sexual female imagery. But not now.
And three together.
Fresh herbs. Basil was for Pesto. Dill was for Borscht.
This is a very big head of purple cabbage. Safeway had this one, and a really tiny one. I should have just gotten the tiny one. This rang up at $7.99. It was the most expensive item we bought, and we did our usual weekly shopping. The boneless skinless chicken breasts came in at #2 at $6.30. The cabbage was over 5 lb. What can I say? Sometimes I just don't think.
Let me explain what the cabbage is for (although I have posted this story before). In Memphis, Steve and I used to go to this restaurant called Cafe Samovar. They served marinated cabbage with green olives to have with bread before the meal, sourdough bread. I was able to duplicate it at home using my Mom's Vegetable Marinade recipe. See this post: http://klisaanne.typepad.com/lisas_day/2008/08/marinated-cabbage.html
So, today, here's what I used:
1 Cup Red Wine (I used Fish Eye Merlot that I got at work, leftover from some event - it's a very mild Merlot, not that I drink Merlot, I just cook with it)
1 Cup Chicken Broth (normally I would have used Vegetable Broth, but they didn't have the Low Sodium Vegetable Broth, only Chicken)
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Red Onion, chopped
1 Tbsp Honey (I didn't measure, but it was a long drizzle)
Salt, Pepper
Bring to simmer. Add tons of chopped cabbage. And some chopped green olives (from the Olive Bar). Toss to coat.
There was so much cabbage, it wouldn't fit into the big pot I used, nor did the big mixing bowl help. We finally got out our huge covered roasting pan. See?
It's Cabbage Week! Yay! (sigh)
So, onto the soup and the Tzatziki. First, I made the Tzatziki in the blender, following the recipe, which calls for yogurt not drained. And I should KNOW by now to always drain yogurt. Anyway, I put in the yogurt, the English cucumber (NOT peeled, but seeded, the way we like them), fresh lemon juice, fresh Dill, salt, pepper. No garlic, though. And it made cucumber soup! Not that this was a bad thing, but Tzatziki should be thick, right? So, I set up the rest of the yogurt to drain. Then I washed the blender and got to the Borscht.
Rather than just chop the beets and stir the stuff together, as per Martha's recipe, or grate them as I found in a recipe by Emeril, I decided to put the soup in the blender. I put everything in the blender but the sour cream and yogurt. And since I got a few too many beets, that much just about filled the blender. But no dairy. Steve came to taste it and told me to just leave it as is, that we'd stir in the Tzatziki as we served it.
Later, I stirred the drained yogurt with the rest of the fresh Dill and some of the Cucumber Soup I made earlier. Perfect. We never did use any sour cream.
Isn't this pretty?!
With the Tzatziki stirred in. The Borscht was like a sweet beet puree.
Here's the whole meal. Marinated cabbage top left, Cucumber Soup next to it (because it was good enough to have on its own), Borscht below that, and Panera Sourdough bread to the left. And Steve just couldn't stand to have a Russian meal without vodka, even though the only vodka we have in the house is blue and raspberry-flavored: