Quick and easy

“Borscht is a soup of Ukrainian origin that is popular in many Eastern and Central European cuisines, including those of Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, and Russia. In most of these countries, it is made with beetroot as the main ingredient. In some countries, tomato is used as the main ingredient, while beetroot acts as a secondary ingredient. Other varieties that do not use beetroot also exist, such as the tomato paste-based orange borscht and green borscht (sorrel soup). Potatoes and cabbage are also standard; some regions have green borscht, where green spinach is substituted for the cabbage.”

A few years ago, when living in Cyprus/Paphos, mom’s friend who is originally from Rusia taught her into making borscht. Then when she and dad moved to London a few years later, this dish became a winter meal and to make it more filling, we added ossobuco and rice.

You will need:

6- 7 beetroot
1 onion
2 leek
1 cabbage
2 carrot
Handful baby potatoes
Handful brussel sprout
1 beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 bay leaf
Dill
Season
Garnished with cream

Peel then soak the beetroot into cold water. In your pan, sweat with vegetable oil the thinly sliced onions till soften, then add the ossobuco pieces, searing the meat till it has a golden brown colour. Fill the pan half way with water, and mix in the roughly diced vegetables; beetroot, baby potato, carrot, sliced cabbage, leek and brussel sprout. On a medium to low heat, leave the soup to simmer for a couple of hours, allowing for the ossobuco to be tender. Season the soup by adding beef stock, bay leaf, chopped dill, tomato paste, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Do a final check with the seasoning, serve the borscht with a tablespoon of cream.