Borschtby Kasia Serves 6This is a difficult recipe, but well worth it, please have a go and enjoy! Because of the beetroot's antibacterial properties you can safely store your borscht in the fridge for up to two weeks.
2 kg fresh beetroot
2 litres of water (approximately)
1 carrot, coarsely grated
2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
1 small leek, finely sliced
2 mushrooms
1 glass of apple juice (approximately)
1 lemon, juiced (optional)
Vinegar (apple cider) and salt to taste
250 g Lima beans, cooked and drained
Baked potatoes (1 per person)
Parsley, chopped for seasoning
Wash beetroot, and boil in a large saucepan until soft. Set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle peel the beetroots (the skin should come off really easily) grate 2 large beets (or 4 small ones) on the coarse grater and thinly slice the rest. Keep the two batches separate.
Place grated carrot, celery, leek and mushrooms in a saucepan with 0.5 l of water, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the grated beetroot, bring to a boil and set aside.
Place sliced beetroot in the remaining water (approximately 1.5l), bring to a boil and simmer for 10 min. It's very important that you don't boil the beets for any longer than 10 mins because they can easily loose the attractive red colour and go brown! Let the broth cool down until you can safely strain it, saving the "juice" and discarding the sliced beetroot, which by this stage should look "pale".
Add the strained "juice" to the mixture of vegetables and grated beetroot you prepared earlier. Add vinegar, apple juice and lemon juice to taste, to achieve the unique sweet/sour taste of borscht. You may need to add some more water at this point, but I usually top it up with additional apple juice. Bring to a boil and turn it off as soon as it reaches the boiling point.
Serve with chopped parsley, baked potatoes (cut up in the soup) and cooked Lima beans.
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