Wrap up, it’s time for Borscht!

Anyone who’s suffered me early in the morning will know 2 things. One — I am one of those annoying people whose full of energy first thing. Two — I love eating what’s been referred to as “random s***” for breakfast.

Don’t get me wrong…I enjoy pouring oat milk on my cornflakes as much as the next person. Do I spice it up with a Huevos ranchos on the weekend? Of course! But if I’ve learnt anything in 2020, it’s that life is too short to have a dull breakfast routine on weekdays. Given the shift in seasons I wanted to introduce you to a wholesome winter warmer of breakfast…all the way from Ukraine, bestowed to me by a ginger Aussie.

I always imagined Borscht as a weird traditional purple earthy puree of a soup enjoyed by all my East European comrades (backbone of the UK’s hospitality trade) at Christmas. A dish avoided by clumsy people who wear white t-shirts and white trainers 90% of the time at all costs (that’s me). Turns out I was wrong…well about the flavours and textures at least.

My Aussie housemate showed me the ropes, so I took his version had a little play around, and here are the results! A sweet, spicy, super hearty broth well balanced in flavour and texture, which when can be consumed any time of day — right now I’m championing it as a hearty breakfast for the colder months which keeps you going all the way through to lunch!

This recipe makes a big pot of around 4/5 servings, but obviously you can break it down to do a little tester first in case your scared of Beetroot soup.

For this you need 3 medium to large Beetroots, 3 Carrots, 2 White Onions, 1/4 of a Red Cabbage, between 1.5 & 2 pints of cold water, 50 ml of red wine vinegar, a massive glug of Olive oil and 2 star anise.

First off — get all the ingredients measured out and together in one place, then get the equipment together. All you need is a big pan with a lid, a wooden spoon, a chopping board, a peeler, a sharp knife, and 2 large trays or tubs.

The more recipes I share the more I’ll detail ways to make your life easier in the kitchen SO much of its down to just being methodical, and doing things in the right order — systems design if you will.

To start, peel your carrots and onions working left to right (or the other way if you’re a muggle) catch the peelings in one tray, then place the peeled veg in the other, then tip all the peelings in the bin. Next up put a big pan on the lowest heat possible and add a massive glug of olive oil (enough to cover the base of the pan). Now chop the carrots and onions (I work to a rough 3cm dice…it’s a rustic dish so don’t lose hair trying to make it perfect!) placing the chopped ones into the empty dish where the peel was.

Tip the diced carrot and onions into the pan and put a big lid on it and turn up the heat a little. Next up start dicing the Beetroot onto the tray aiming for a similar size as the carrot & onion, which depending on how fast you chop you may want to stop and stir a couple of times.

Once the carrots and onions are soft, starting to sweat and release their lovely juices stir in the beetroot and put the lid back on. You want to sweat the beetroot off until you start to see it releasing all its purple velvety juices. Yum. Whilst the Beetroots doing this shred the cabbage.

Once the Beetroots at this stage (should take about 3/4 minutes) add the cold water — for me 1.5 pints is usually enough, but it depends on the size of your veg, as a rule I add enough water to submerge the veg by about 95%. Make sure the water is cold. As a rule, if veg grows underground bring it up to the boil, if it grows above ground drop it into boiling water.

Put the lid back on the pan and bring it up to the boil. I like to have a bit of bite to my veg, so as soon mine boils I turn it off. You can leave yours on for a few minutes if you like — just keep trying the veg and remember the residual heat will keep it cooking once you turn off the heat.

As soon as yours is at the desired state turn off the heat, add the cabbage (this will cook from the residual heat) star anise (if you don’t like anise much just add one, if you don’t like it at all — don’t add it!) & vinegar put the lid back on and leave it out overnight. This is where the magic happens, trust me — soups & stews always taste better the next day.

Give it a good stir before reheating and serving, I like to finish mine with a dollop of horseradish sauce. Try not to spill it everywhere & enjoy!