Borscht
I’m reluctant to post this recipe for Borscht. No matter how many times I try I am constantly told, by certain family members, it’s only a seven or eight.
In fairness to me I am competing against the memory of a loved grandma. I imagine I will never reach the heights of her Borscht, and I am perfectly fine with that. I never had the fortune of meeting her but I have no doubt her version of Borscht was much better than mine ;).
After my self deprecating lol… if you are still interested in trying my recipe I think you will be happy. One of the keys to this version of Borscht is the wonderful flavour imparted by the smoked Ham Hock. And of course you can never have too much dill, according to my resident expert.. you’re welcome honey :).
Easy prep
There isn’t much to cut here, but how evenly you dice everything can have an effect on the final Borscht. I enjoy larger chunks of Beets and Potatoes but that might not be your thing. If you like smaller more delicate pieces, that is how you should dice everything.
What I do find important is dicing the Potato slightly larger than the Beets. Potatoes cook faster than Beets and I’m not a big fan of disintegrating Potatoes on my fork.
After you’ve finished with the Potatoes and Beets, and your hands look like they just killed a small animal for dinner 😆 , the Onion, Garlic, Cabbage and Tomatoes are left. Medium dice the Onion and Tomato along with crushing and chopping the garlic. Shred the Cabbage to complete the knife work and gather everything else together.
Finish rounding up all your ” Mise en Place “, measure your liquids and Spices and off to the cooktop.
Bring the Borscht together
Grab a nice deep pot (I love my Cast Iron for things like this) and turn the heat to medium high. Add some Olive Oil to the pot and allow the Oil to heat up. Once the Oil has heated up, add the Onion and sauté for a minute or two. Add the Garlic to the Onion and cook for another minute.
Before the Garlic starts to burn, add or deglaze with the Red Wine Vinegar. Reduce the liquid by half and repeat with the White Wine. To “Deglaze” simply means to add an acid like vinegar or wine to a hot pan in order to loosen and pull all those beautiful caramelized food bits off the bottom. Yummy.
Next to eating this wonderful, rich, hearty Borscht the next step might be the easiest part. Add everything else except the Garnish into the pot… doesn’t get much easier than that. The real secret of this soup or stew is giving all the rich flavours time to hang out together.
the cooking party
Once everything is in, bring the broth up to a simmer, place a lid or foil on the top and place in a 350° F oven. Start checking to see if the Beets are cooked after about 45 minutes. If the Broth level starts to drop too much just add 1/2 cup of water at a time to top it off.
After all the ingredients have had 45 minutes to an hour to get happy and the Beets are cooked, time to pull it out of the oven.
Smoked Ham Hocks have a great flavour but can be quite fatty and sinewy. Because of this, after I pull the Borscht from the oven I like to remove the Ham Hock from the Broth and place it back in the oven. Turn the heat off and allow the Ham Hock to dry out as the oven cools off.
Once the Ham Hock has cooled enough to handle remove the skin. Cut the meat away from the bone into bite sized pieces remembering to trim off excess fat and sinew. Add back into the Borscht.
Garnish and eat
All that’s left is to garnish and eat and possibly tear off some Bread from a nice artisan Loaf. I like adding a ton of fresh Dill at the end as I am serving Borscht.
I love the freshness the Dill brings but if you only have dried Dill I would recommend adding before in the oven. Dried dill will take more time to impart it’s flavour whereas fresh Dill is much better eaten quickly after adding.
A little dollop of Sour Cream to help cut through the richness of the Beets and you have a wonderful Meal. Enjoy!
Borscht
Ingredients
- 2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Onion medium size dice
- 1 Clove Garlic Crushed
- 1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
- 1/4 C White Wine
- 3 small Boiling Potatoes medium dice
- 2-3 Beets medium dice
- 1 large Diced Tomato
- 1 1/2 C Red Cabbage shredded
- 3 C Water
- 1 1/2 C Chicken Stock
- 2 tsp Honey
- 2 tsp Dried Dill
- 2 tsp Paprika
- 3/4 Lbs Smoked Ham Hock
- Salt and Pepper
Bouquet Garni
- Thyme
- Parsley
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 6 Black Peppercorns
Garnish
- 1/4 C Fresh Dill
- Sour Cream
Instructions
- Turn the oven on to 350° F
Prep
- Start by peeling the Beets and cutting them into a medium dice. Cut the Potatoes into a medium dice slightly larger than the Beets.
- Dice the onion to a medium dice as well as the Tomato. Peel the Garlic and with the side of a chefs knife push down hard on the Garlic to crush it on the cutting board. After you've crushed the Garlic continue to chop it.
- Shred the Red Cabbage and measure out the rest of your ingredients. Move everything over to the side of your cooktop and you're ready to start cooking.
Cooking Method
- Start by heating up the pot over a medium high heat, add the Olive Oil and allow it a minute to heat up. Add the Onion and a pinch of Salt, stir to coat with the Oil, allow to cook for 1-2 minutes then add the Garlic.
- In about 1 minute and before the Garlic starts to burn, deglaze with the Red Wine vinegar. After the Vinegar has reduced by at least half add the White Wine and reduce by half again.
- Add everything else except the garnish to the pot and bring the broth up to a simmmer. At this point if you only intend to use Dried DIll I would add 2-3 additional Tablespoons. If you're using Fresh Dill continue with the rest of the instructions. Now is also a great time to add some more seasoning. 2 Large pinches of Salt would be good here.
- Once the Broth reaches a simmer place it in the oven and let it get happy for about an hour. I would start checking to see if the Beets are cooked after 45 minutes. Their cooking time will depend upon how large you diced them. If the liquid starts to get too low during the cooking process, go ahead and add 1/2 cup of water at a time to top it off.
- After the Beets are cooked remove the pot from the oven and turn the heat off. Remove the Ham Hock from the Broth, place in a oven proof tray or pot and place back in the oven. Keep it there until the oven has cooled… this will allow the Ham Hock to dry out slightly.
- Once the Ham is cooled start by cutting the skin off and discarding. Cut the Meat off of the bone, dice into smaller pieces, making sure to remove excess fat and sinew and return to the Broth.
Finishing
- Season to taste with some more Salt & Pepper and ladle into your serving bowls. Top with a nice size dolop of Sour Cream and sprinkle with a generous pinch of Fresh Dill.
- Cut a few pieces of some nice crusty Artisan Bread and Enjoy with some Friends and Family.