Borscht (Beetroot Soup)

Ingredients

• 100g floury potato (1)
• 100g onion (1)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 500g raw beetroot (3)
• 500ml chicken or vegetable stock
• 500ml water
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 4

Method

1. Peel and chop the potato, onion and beetroot into cubes. Peel and finely chop the garlic.
2. Heat the oil and butter over a medium heat in a large saucepan. When the butter has melted, add the onion.
3. Cook the onion for about 10 minutes until it has become soft and translucent.
4. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes, add the potato and beetroot and cook for a further 2 minutes, then pour in the stock and water.
5. Bring it to the boil, season with the salt, sugar and four grinds of black pepper and cook it for 20 minutes, until the potatoes and beetroot are cooked (when a knife goes through it easily).
6. Ladle some of the contents of the pan into a liquidizer, until the liquidizer is ¼ full and then blend it for about a minute.
7. Pour the contents of the liquidizer into another clean pan and then refill the liquidizer to ¼. (Filling a liquidizer with too much hot liquid can cause the liquid to explode out of the top in a spectacular fashion, regardless of the strength of your liquidizers lid. It is best to err on the side of caution and do several small batches, rather than cover yourself and your kitchen with boiling hot soup.)
8. When all of the soup has been blended, reheat the soup, check the seasoning and then ladle it into bowls. Place a teaspoon of sour cream into the centre of each bowl and put a small sprig of dill on top.
9. Serve.

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Useful Information

Can it be frozen? Yes.
Can it be prepared in advance? Yes, it can be finished up to 3 days in advance.
Will leftovers be nice? Yes, for up to 3 days from the day it is made.

Notes