Borscht(ish)

It is probably sacrilegious to call this soup borscht.  No recipe books or Russians were consulted before or during the making of this dinner.  Though one member of Fruges had once been made it by a Russian friend when fighting a particularly bad cold and its chicken-soup-like medicinal qualities have been hard to forget.

As far as we’re aware, traditional borscht is quite a labour of love; purists can spend hours sweating over a batch.  We wanted the earthy sweetness of the beetroot but we didn’t want to spend the time.

We managed to make this version in about 30 minutes.  Our lovely local vegetable shop sells beetroot in several forms, one of which is freshly cooked.  If you don’t have this option, we would always recommend taking the time to cook some from raw when making this soup, don’t be tempted to use the shrink-wrapped or jarred type.

Despite the shortcuts our borscht was delicious.  We added lightly sautéed buttery shredded cabbage at the end to add a gentle peppery crunch to this otherwise sweet soup.

Fed 4 for dinner + 2 lunches: Approx 60p per person, per meal

Shopping List

3 large Beetroot (pre-cooked) £1.38

2 Carrots + 1 Onion 29p

Bunch of Fresh Dill 75p

Creme Fraiche 90p

1/3 head of white heart cabbage 25p

Total: £3.57

Store cupboard

Chicken Stockpot

Bouillon

1 Stick of celery

Leftover Bread

Butter

· Chop the onion and celery as finely as you can, then gently fry in a large, heavy bottomed pan.

· Grate the carrots and beetroot, and add them to the same pan.

· Fill and boil the kettle.

· When the vegetables have softened and some stock - as a quick fix we used a Knorr chicken stock pot and about 3 pints of boiling water, topped up with Bouillon to taste.

· Finely chop around half of the dill, and add it to the pan.

· Put the lid on to stop the soup from reducing, and leave it on a low heat for about 15 minutes.

· While the soup is simmering finely shred the cabbage and lightly sauté with a knob of butter in separate pan.  Add this to the borscht at the very end.

· Serve in big bowls with plenty of bread, a big dollop of crème fraiche, and some more chopped dill.

You could jazz up your soup by mixing some grated parmesan or horseradish into the crème fraiche or adding a squeeze of lemon juice to your soup.  We've given this a 'Vegetarian' label because you could easily switch the chicken stock for vegetable.