Grandma's Borscht

Visiting my mother this week she started talking about Borscht. When she was growing up it was one of her favorites. Her little Russian grandmother (she was 4’6”tall, absolutely adorable) use to make it. My mother’s maternal grandparents escaped from Russia in a row boat during the war. When they got to this country they taught themselves English and worked long and hard hours to feed their family. It has been hard over the years trying to duplicate some of grandma’s recipes; she wasn’t big on writing things down she would just tell you what to put in. We are still trying to make a carrot cookie that she made that was very thin and very crisp, still with no success. Hopefully we will figure it out someday. But luckily we have had great success with her version of Borscht, it really is delicious hot or cold.

Grandma's Borscht

2 quarts beef stock
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup cabbage, finely chopped
1 cup potatoes, diced
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes
put the beet juice from the can into the borscht
1 cup canned beets, diced
1 teaspoon vinegar
sour cream

In a large heavy pan, melt butter and lightly sauté cabbage, potatoes, carrots, celery and onion for approximately 5 minutes. Add beef stock. Add crushed tomatoes and beet juice to stock. Cover and simmer over low heat until vegetables are tender but not mushy. At this point, add the chopped beets and vinegar. Season well with salt and pepper and remove from heat before the beets begin to lose their color.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream