Borscht

It's been some time I've been trying to find a good Borscht recipe, especially because my husband has been to Russia and had the real thing. I was afraid to disappoint him. So I decided to try this recipe, that I found here and, what do you know?, he loved it. He said it's just like what he had there (which is not the chef's soups, that all is mixed up and blended). Apparently Borsch has to have chewable pieces.

Here's the recipe.
Time of preparation: 2 hours

INGREDIENTS

4 fresh or vacuum packed beetroot approx 600g
White cabbage 4oz 100g
4 Small potatoes
1 Medium carrot
2 Medium tomatoes
1 Medium size onion
Beef (any cut) 14oz 400g
Fresh dill 8 sprigs
Garlic 2 cloves
Parsley (garnish only) 8 sprigs
Vinegar 1 teaspoon
Butter or margarine 2 tablespoons
Sour cream (optional) 2 tablespoons 2 tablespoons
Salt and pepper to taste - -

COOK'S NOTES: The backbone of this meal is beetroot so try and get some fresh, it does make a difference. Fresh beetroot is sweeter than any other type. Failing this, the vacuum packed beetroot is a very good alternative.

The use of beef is traditional in Russian Borsch but poorer Russians would make this dish with just the vegetables. Alternative vegetables to the carrot, potato, cabbage and tomatoes include parsnips and turnips, in fact any root vegetable can be used. The beef is a good addition, but by no means necessary.

The cut of beef is not important, in fact the cheaper cuts give the dish more flavour. If the cut is too fatty, simply remove it before serving the Borsch.

1 large pan
1 frying pan (small)
1 pan (small)

PREPARATION
If using meat off the bone, cut into cubes (see picture below).
If using meat on the bone, cut so that it can fit in the pan.
Roughly chop the onions. Finely chop the dill.
Top and tail the beetroot and peel it (if using fresh beetroot). Slice beetroot into strips and then cut them in half (see picture below).
Chop up the tomatoes.

One hour after starting the meat broth:
Roughly chop the carrots. Finely cut the garlic.
Finely cut the parsley. Cut the potatoes into strips.
Peel the layers of the cabbage apart then slice into strips

METHOD

Put the beef, dill and the chopped onion into a large pan and cover with 3 litres of cold water. Cook for 1½ hours in low heat. I put the potatoes on too, because I prefer them very soft if on soup.
Half an hour after starting the beef broth cooking, melt a tablespoon of butter in a pan. Add the beetroot, tomatoes and vinegar to the pan. Simmer at low heat for 1 hour stirring occasionally. If there is not enough liquid, add some of the broth.

A quarter of an hour before the beef broth is finished cooking melt 1 tablespoon of butter or margarine in a frying pan. Add chopped carrots and garlic. Cover the frying pan and sauté for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When the beef broth is cooked (after 1½ hours) remove any fat floating on the top (use a spoon). Add the chopped cabbage, potatoes, sautéd carrots and garlic. Stir well. Cook for 15 minutes.

Add the cooked beetroot. Stir well and cook for another 5 minutes.

My cheating kind of gumbo soup

I watched Jamie Oliver's road trip to America last week and the Louisiana soup seemed quite nice. I decided to give it a try but I didn't have most of the ingredients (specially not the holly trinity ingredients). So I made this soup, inspired by what I saw. It is nothing like the Louisiana soup, but oh....It was soooo good we couldn't stop eating.


1/2kg of chicken drumsticks and thighs
3 tbspoons of oil
1 onion chopped finnely
coriander (a small handfull)
chives (about 4 tbspoons)
parsley (about 4 tbspoons)
1 clove of garlic, chopped
loddon or chopped bacon (2-3 pieces)
ground chilli
juice of 2 limes
2 cubes of chicken stock
3-4 sliced tomatoes
100g of sweet corn
1L to 1.3L of water (depends on the amount of broth you want)
1 handful of kale

Fry the onion, chives, parsley, coriander, bacon, garlic and chicken until the onion is soft (about 2-3 min). Add the water and the chicken chubes. When it boils, add all the other ingredients apart from the kale. Let it cook for 30 min and add the kale, letting it cook for 5 more minutes.

Serve in a soup plate/bowl with rice on the botton and the stew on top.

Corn meal soup

Time of preparation: 35 min

2 tbspoons of oil
1 clove of garlic, chopped
left over meat
4 tbspoons of cornmeal
2l of boiling water
salt
pepper
stock cube (depending on the left over meat you are using: if its chicken, use chicken stock)
1 soup plate full of kale or collard green, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 eggs

Dissolve the cornmeal in a bit of cold water. Boil the rest of the water. Put the dissolved corn meal in the boiling water. On another pan, fry the garlic, meat left over and onion. Add to the boiling soup. Add the collard green or kale and let it boil for 10 min. Whisk the eggs slightely and put then in the soup, after turning the off the hob and mix it slowly.

Serve with toasts and cheese.

The collard greens or kale can be replaced by spinach, watercress or endives.

Caldo verde (green broth)

4 portions
30 min

750g of peeled potatoes
2 littres of water, boiling
250 of green collard, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 tbspoons of olive oil
salt

for serving: 2 tbspoons of olive oil

In a pan, add the boiling water with salt. Add the potatoes and let them cook. Remove them, mash and add them to the water again. Let it boil and add the other ingredients, cook for 3-5 min. When it's time to serve, add the 2 tbspoons of olive oil.

Optional: you can add chopped calabrese to the soup.

Brazilian chicken soup (Canja de galinha)

This chiken soup is a brazilina tradition. Whenever someone is sick at home, mothers all over the country prepare this easy to digest soup, which helps with morning sickness, nausea, stomach aches, etc.

time of preparation: 1 hour (stove) or 20 min (microwave)

1/2 tbspoon of oil
2 tbspoons of chopped parsley
1/2 cup of rice
3 chopped carrots
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
chicken breast or chicken wings and drumsticks or (my favourite) carcass
1 1/2 litre of boiling water
salt

Heat up the oil and fry the onion, celery and garlic. Add the chicken, the carrots, salt and water. Let it cook (about 30 min). If you are using chicken carcass or wings/drumsticks, remove them from the soup and remove the bones with 2 forks. Return the meat to the pan, and add the rice. Let it cook (generally takes 20 minutes). Serve it with bread.


Microwave:

In a microwave dish, add the oil, onion, celery, chicken, carrots, 1 cup of boiling water and salt. Mix it well, put the lid on and cook it in max potency for 4 minutes. Add the rice and 5 cups of boiling water. Return it to the microwave in max potency for 10 min. Let it rest for 3 minutes and serve it.

Vanessa's Chicken soup

Time of preparation: 1 hour to 1:15

1 whole chiken, chopped until the carcass
1 big pan
1 big onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
5 medium sized potatoes, in chunks of about 2cm
2 tomatoes, chopped (with skin and seeds)
3 carrots, chopped
a handful of sliced leeks
a handful of parsley
a hadful of chives
1/4 to 1/3 of cabagge, chopped
3-4 spoons of oil
2 cubes of knorr chicken stock
salt and pepper
pasta (a handful)
Boiling water (about 2 litres)

Why a whole chicken? Because when you buy a whole chicken and chop it yourself, you pay less and get more meat. Also, we are going to use the carcass, which is what provides the flavour for this soup. If you don't know how to cut a chicken, you can check this link (an explanation with pictures)




If you checked the link above, we are going to use D and E pieces (at the end of the page). If you checked the video, we are using the back of the chicken. Also, if you want more meat in the soup, you can use the breast (the bottom part of it or the cartilage, if you trimmed the meat off it).

Ok, the soup:

Heat up the oil in medium heat and add the onion and the chicken. Fry it a bit (for about 1-2 minutes, be careful not to burn the onions), add the garlic, fry it a bit more (some 30 seconds tops) and add the boiling water, enough to cover the chicken. If you want more soup, just add more water. Add the 2 knorr cubes, and everything else (apart from the pasta) and let it boil. When it boils, check for salt (it generally needs a bit more) and cover the pan with the lid, reducing the heat. You'll notice that it pretty much tastes like salt water. Let it cook for 30 minutes and the ingredients will cook, giving the soup a delicious scent and taste. After 30 minutes, remove the carcass or pieces of carcass from the soup, placet it on a chopping board and, with the help of 2 forks, remove all the meat from the bones. It gets easier to do it the longer it cooks. After you've been through the carcass, dispose of the bones and return the meat to the pan. Add the pasta (whatever pasta you want, fusili, farfale, etc) and let it cook for some 15 more minutes. We don't want pasta al dente here. This is soup pasta and the softer the better. Check for salt and serve hot.

BE CAREFUL: this soup is soooo good, that everytime I cook it we burn our tongues because it is so delicious we can't wait for it to cool down! And although it is soup, this is a meal on its own, because there are so many pieces to chew that no one would be hungry after it.
Serve with some bread.