Potato Kugel
Francis Lam, Itta Werdiger Roth, “Spice, Spirit”
1290 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
1,290
2 1/2 hours
Mushroom and Beet Borscht
- Total Time
- 1½ hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:6 servings
- 1ounce dried mushrooms (about 1 cup), such as porcinis or shiitakes
- 1bunch beets (4 medium or 3 large), with greens, the beets peeled and quartered, the greens stemmed, washed and coarsely chopped
- 3garlic cloves, 2 thinly sliced and 1 minced
- Salt
- 1 to 2teaspoons sugar, to taste
- 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1large onion, chopped
- 2medium carrots, peeled and sliced (about 1½ cups)
- 2celery stalks, sliced
- ½pound white or cremini mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
- A bouquet garni made with 10 parsley stems, 2 bay leaves, 6 black peppercorns, 2 sprigs thyme and 3 allspice berries, tied in a cheesecloth bag
- 1tablespoon cider vinegar
- ¼cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1cup plain Greek yogurt for garnish (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
157 calories; 7 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 18 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 11 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 577 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Place dried mushrooms in a bowl and pour on 3 cups boiling water. Let sit 30 minutes, then strain through a cheesecloth-lined strainer set over a bowl. Squeeze mushrooms over the strainer to extract any remaining flavorful liquid. Rinse mushrooms in several changes of water, and chop.
- Step 2
While mushrooms are soaking, combine beets, sliced garlic and 1 quart of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt and the sugar, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
- Step 3
Remove beets from water using a slotted spoon or skimmer and transfer to a bowl; allow to cool until you can handle them. Cut into small dice or into julienne (about ¼-inch wide by 1 inch long). Add enough of the broth from the beets to the mushroom broth to make 6 cups combined broth.
- Step 4
Heat oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven and add onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring, until just tender, about 5 minutes, and add a generous pinch of salt and the minced garlic. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute, and add white mushrooms. Cook, stirring often, until mushrooms begin to sweat. Add chopped dried mushrooms, the 6 cups combined mushroom and beet broth, the simmered beets and the bouquet garni. Bring to a boil, add salt to taste, reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes.
- Step 5
Add chopped beet greens and simmer another 5 minutes. Stir in vinegar. Taste and adjust seasonings. Remove bouquet garni, stir in chopped parsley and serve, garnishing each bowl with a generous dollop of yogurt if desired.
Tip
- You can make this soup a few days ahead, and it freezes well for a couple of months. Don’t add the parsley until serving.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Sharon
This sounds great. Might be helpful to add a note to save the mushroom water in the bowl, i.e., after "Let sit 30 minutes, then strain through a cheesecloth-lined strainer set over a bowl." Add "Set aside the bowl of water for use in Step 3."
No I'm not just anal. I want to make this and that wasn't clear (to me). Thanks!
Mike
Beets are a source of sugar that is actually healthy so the added sugar does not make sense. To make the soup even healthier cut up small pieces of Wakame seaweed and simmer with the beets and garlic. The Wakame, like all sea vegetables, will enrich the flavor and is a great source of minerals.
Meri
Flavorful, and gorgeous to look at. Don't leave out the final touch of vinegar, it brings the flavors together with a sparkle. I used a pinch of ground allspice since there were no whole ones on hand.
Bernie Gal
Roasting beets first warms the house on chilly mornings and yields a greater depth of flavor to this take on my dear departed Russian auntie's recipe. O yeah, go for sour cream and dill garnish.
Rick
It would be helpful if nutrition information included the size of the serving.
Bobbe Nunes
This is a wonderful recipe for inspiring the cook's instinct. I will follow the inspiration and add two cups of cooked Good Mother Stallard beans swimming in a their own rich bean broth as well as the mushroom concoction. It doesn't seem to me that this recipe requires strict adherence to all the game players and can be adapted pulling from the individual home cook's pantry. Four beets and beautiful beet greens caught my eye.
Eric Carr
"Winelike" heady flavor of beets? Winelike? I wonder about the wine you drink and the beets you use.
Also, it seems strange that you would try to have mushrooms competing in any borscht. My Russian god-mother made a borscht that could bring tears to your eyes. You could eat it hot or cold, with meat or without (She prepared it as a vegetarian dish to which you could add meat.), with sour cream or without. It was a heavenly garden of vegetables with beets as the main ingredient.
Jody
I pureed about a third of the soup with a hand blender and liked the overall texture. Also added lemon juice fairly heavily. Really enjoyed this soup!
Ruth S
I guess borscht can be any number of recipes. But mushrooms? And yogurt? Give me the old fashioned kind, with beets, some of the greens, a little sour salt, well chilled and a spoonful of sour cream. Yum, a summer soup to remember.
Sally
I had golden beets in my CSA share this week, so I used them for this recipe. Lacks the deep red color, of course, but tastes delicious!
Trial and Error
I agree that added sugar is not required. For sodium-restricted types, salt can be reduced or eliminated. I've added boiled potatoes at the serving stage with good results.
Ed
Excellent. Used a dollop of sour cream instead of yoghurt.
tammy
beautiful soup in color and taste. it brought back found memories of my father's borscht (which of course did not have mushrooms but the whole process of making the soup and that glorious color brought back a cherished time.) i liked the meat like texture of the dried mushrooms but shitakes were not flavorful enough but they were the only dried mushrooms available in my local market. next time i'll plan ahead and find dried porcinis. wouldn't change anything in this recipe aside from that.
Tasha
I used half the !ount of porcinis and fresh shiitakes. I used herbs de Provence and rosemary because I didn’t have the other herbs. Yummy!
Michael
This was delicious! I skipped the dried mushrooms and used a carton of mushroom broth instead. I also added some braggs aminos (low-sodium soy sauce would also work) and a veggie bouillon cube for some extra umami and depth. Definitely will be making this again.
Eric
I wouldn't use dried porcini: its flavour would completely dominate especially using the suggested 1 oz. I went with 1/2 oz dried shiitakes (4 caps) and soaked them in vegetable stock instead of water. I also substituted 1/4 fennel bulb for the celery with excellent results. It's a delicious soup.
Jody
I pureed about a third of the soup with a hand blender and liked the overall texture. Also added lemon juice fairly heavily. Really enjoyed this soup!
Matt
Cooking this right now - looks great. Unfortunately it wasn't obvious (to me anyway) to hold back the beet greens until the end, so they have now disappeared into the broth. Will know for next time.
Alice
I skipped the sugar and salt and puréed everything just before adding 1/4 cup vinegar. It was subtle and spectacular! Greek yogurt was a nice finishing touch. I will make this again!
LCRI Cook
If I try this again I will use half the porcini mushrooms called for as they really took over. It is more Porcini Stew. I even went a little heavy on the amount of beets and had 3 cups of beet broth after starting with five cups of water.
D Train
At the risk of being considered a heretic, I'd like to suggest that one can get the same taste and result by starting with bottled borscht and customizing with all the veggies and mushrooms.
A lot of prep for the final quantity and certainly more than the stated 1 1/2 hours to prepare.
Have had home made borscht in various dairy restaurants, so am familiar with with the product, the taste and the texture. Also, since my family hails from Poland, this is part of my culinary heritage.
tdalec
Very tasty but way too complicated to make and an awful lot of pots and pans and bowls to wash.
tonysol77
Was short on mushrooms but this still turned out very well. Put the garni in a tea ball (used dried thyme and skipped the parsley). Added a couple small mushroom pierogi (they looked just like tortellini) per bowl
Bernie Gal
Roasting beets first warms the house on chilly mornings and yields a greater depth of flavor to this take on my dear departed Russian auntie's recipe. O yeah, go for sour cream and dill garnish.
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