Name: Borscht
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Poland
Ingredients: grated horseradish, to serve (optional); 150 ml/ ¼ pint sour cream, plus a little more to serve; salt and pepper; 225 g/ 8 oz leeks, sliced; 225 g/ 8 oz onion, diced; 1 litre/ 1 pt chicken or beef or vegetable stock; freshly grated nutmeg; 1 bay leaf; 60 g/ 2 oz butter; 2 celery stalks, chopped; 1 kg/ 2 lb3 oz large raw beet root

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Daily Mail Modern British Cookbook

By Alastair Little and Richard Whittington

Published 1998

About

Anybody who has splashed their clothes with beetroot juice has empirical knowledge of its efficacy as a vivid food dye, and Borscht — Russian or Polish beetroot soup — would be unremarkable if it were not for its startling appearance which needs no further enhancement.

Ingredients

1 kg/ 2 lb3 oz large raw beet root
1

Method

Boil the beetroot whole in salted water for 15 minutes. Drain and refresh in cold water. Peel and cut into 2.5-cm / 1-inch chunks.

Gently sauté the onion, leek and celery in the butter until softened. Add the beetroot, the stock and bay leaf. Bring to the boil, skim, lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf and liquidize. Return to a clean pan, season with g