Beet & Beef Borscht

Beet & Beef Borscht

Serves 6 to 8

The deep red broth in this soup is beautiful and I like the white accent that comes with spoonfuls of whole milk yogurt or crème fraîche. This recipe was inspired by a friend of mine who told me about buying spicy tomato juice for soups and it really is an amazing base for this recipe. I like to go to the health food store and buy all-natural tomato juice there but a classic V8 juice works well too.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
5 large red beets without greens, cleaned, trimmed and peeled (about 2 pounds) 
4 cups spicy tomato juice
3 cups beef broth
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1 teaspoon ground pepper, divided
1 cup chopped parsley, additional for serving (from 2 large bunches)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons dried dill 
Whole milk yogurt or crème fraîche for serving and roughly chopped fresh dill

Variations

This recipe is delicious without the beef and a quick way to make it vegan. Sub out the beef broth for vegetable broth or water and don’t use yogurt or crème fraîche to garnish.

Directions

Heat olive oil over medium heat, until shimmering,  in a large saucepan or Dutch Oven. Add onion and garlic, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the ground beef, using a wooden spoon or spatula break the beef into small pieces, until no longer pink, about 8 minutes. Stir the caraway, cumin, red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper, until combined, about 1 minute. 

Meanwhile, cut the beets into quarters, and with a food processor fitted with a shredding blade, grate the beets. If you don’t have a food processor, this can be done using a hand grater. Stir the grated beets into the large saucepan or Dutch oven, until just tender, about 5 minutes.

Pour in tomato juice and beef broth to fully cover the beet mixture and increase to high heat for a few minutes to bring to a boil,  cover and reduce to medium-low, until slightly thickened and reduced, about 20 minutes.

Stir in 1 cup parsley, balsamic vinegar, dried dill, and the remaining ½ teaspoon salt and pepper, simmer on medium-low, uncovered, about 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls and top with yogurt or crème fraîche, fresh dill, and remaining parsley.