Hearty Ham Borscht Food

HEARTY HAM BORSCHT

Steps:

• Place ham bone and water in a Dutch oven or soup kettle; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1-1/2 hours. Remove ham bone; allow to cool. , Remove meat from bone and cut into bite-size pieces; discard bone. Return meat to kettle. Add ham, beets, pork and beans, soup, peas, carrots, beans, onion and dill. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Garnish with sour cream if desired.

HEARTY BORSCHT

Steps:

• 1. Combine all stocks in large soup pot. Add chicken, carrots, celery, and parsnips. Bring to a low simmer until chicken is cooked, skimming the top of the soup to remove "foam" and blood. Chicken is done when juice from chicken runs clear when punctured with a fork. Remove cooked chicken and parsnips, discard.
• 2. While soup base is simmering, wash potatoes and boil with skins on in a separate pot. Potatoes are done when skins begin to crack and is somewhat tender to a fork. Strain and set aside to cool. Once cooled, peel skin (should pull away easily)and cut into 1 inch cubes. Add to soup base after chicken and parsnip have been removed.
• 3. Remove beet stems from beets (set aside) and boil beets until fork tender in another separate pot. Strain and let cool. Once cooled, remove outer layer of beet and slice into "small frech fries". Add to soup.
• 4. Saute chopped onion in small saute pan with 1 tbs. butter until tender, set aside.
• 5. Rinse beet leaves and stems, and chop into 1 inch pieces. In large saute pan, add remaining butter and cook until leaves are wilted and stem is tender.
• 6. Add onion, stem/leaf mixture, sliced garlic, fresh dill and parsley, salt and pepper to taste as well as the white vinegar to taste. Let soup slowly cool on stove to let flavors combine.
• 7. When ready to serve, add a dollop of sour cream and accompany with some rustic, fresh rye bread.

MOM'S BORSCHT

Steps:

• Brown ground beef in a medium frying pan or dutch oven. When beef is half-browned, add onions and cook until remainder of beef is browned.
• Add remaining ingredients to dutch oven, then add beef/onion mixture.
• Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30-60 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

AUTHENTIC RUSSIAN/UKRAINIAN BORSCHT

Steps:

• To a large pot (I use 8qts), add the meat and enough water to fill up the pot to halfway.
• Remove all froth that comes up from the meat.
• Continue to boil on med-high until no more froth comes up.
• Reduce heat to low and add consomme mix, whole onion, dill, beats, cabbage, and tomato sauce.
• Fill with water, cover partially with lid, and let cook for 90min.
• After that hour and a half of cooking, make sure meat is soft - then add the carrots, and squeeze all the juice you can possible juice from the lemons into the soup.
• You can add the rice and/or potatoes at this point, if you like.
• Cook, partially covered, for another 30-45 minutes, until making sure the potatoes and carrots are tender, and the rice (if you put any in) is ready.
• The soup is great on day 1, but tastes much better on days 2-3.
• Enjoy the soup while it's very hot.

KYERA'S HEARTY BEEF BORSCHT

Steps:

• Place oxtail, onions, carrots, cabbage, celery, barley, onion soup mix, dill, cinnamon, bay leaf, and water in a large slow cooker. Cook on low until meat is tender, about 5 hours.
• Remove meat and bones from slow cooker; cool on a plate until easily handled, about 10 minutes. Cut meat into small pieces; return meat to the soup and discard bones. Skim off any fat from soup; remove bay leaf.
• Stir beets and beet greens into soup; cook on low until beets are tender, about 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper; top each bowl with about 1 tablespoon sour cream to serve.