My borscht recipe is adapted from one of the Moosewood cookbooks that I learned to cook from in college.  I did a lot of cooking during that time…..enough to occasionally wonder if I should have been at culinary school rather than at Sarah Lawrence College.  At Sarah Lawrence I had an amazing academic don named Ilja Wachs, who advised me on everything from my course of study, to my relationship with my biological father, to how to make a delicious borscht.  Just a few years ago (a full ten years after graduating from college) Ilja met me for tea and advised me on health insurance and my relationship with the wonderful man who  I am now going to marry.   Yeah.  There is no way I would have gotten that from culinary school.

Anyway, the reason I bring up Ilja Wachs is that he really did advise me on how to make a good borscht.  I was very proud of a borscht that I had made and I brought some to him.  He told me that the borscht was excellent but that it could not be a truly great borscht unless I used a homemade meat stock.  At eighteen I was a pretty dedicated vegetarian, so we agreed to disagree.  However, I am no longer a vegetarian and every time I make my borscht with homemade meat stock I think of Ilja.  Thinking of Ilja makes me feel lucky to have been taken care of and challenged by such a fabulous human being.  Thinking of Ilja makes me remember how lucky I am to have gone to a great school like Sarah Lawrence.  In short my Borscht makes me very happy and thankful.  I hope that this borscht will make you feel lucky and cared for and thankful too!

HOT BORSCHT

• 1 and 1/2 cup thinly sliced potato
• 1 cup thinly sliced beets
• 4 cups home-made meat stock
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 and 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon caraway seed
• 1 and 1/2 tsp salt (maybe more to taste)
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 3 to 4 cups cabbage sliced
• black pepper
• 1 tsp fresh dill
• 1 or 2 Tablespoons raspberry vinegar
• 1 or 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 cup tomato puree
• sour cream and hard-boiled egg for garnish (optional)

1. Combine the potatoes, beets and stock in a large pot.  Cook over medium high heat.
2. Meanwhile in another large pot, saute the onions in the butter along with the salt and caraway seed for about 8 minutes.
3. Add the celery, carrots, cabbage to the onions.  Scoop out 2 cups of the stock from the other pot and add it to the onion, celery, carrots and cabbage.  Cover and cook for 8 minutes.
4. Combine everything into one pot.  Add the black pepper, dill , vinegar, sugar and tomato puree and cook, covered for at least 15 minutes more.
5. Garnish with sour cream and hard-boiled egg if you like.