Saturday, February 13, 2010

eat to the beet

Growing up in the snowy Pennsylvania mountains, red beet soup (barszcz, in Polish) was a winter-time staple. This easy soup is classic comfort food: filling, earthy and just a tad musky. My mom always added sour cream, transforming the soup into a brilliant Pepto-Bismol pink, so this is the [veganized] recipe I included in my cookbook. But last week, when I was plum out of vegan sour cream, I added a bit of soy milk instead. The resulting color was a more dignified deep magenta, and the soup tasted just as warming. The motto of the recipe? Don't be afraid to modify recipes. That's often how new recipes are born.


One bit of red beet-related kitchen wisdom to share: unless you want pink fingers, wear gloves while peeling the beets.

10 comments:

buffalodick said...

I may have to try beets again one of these days....Last time I had them, they were made by Gerber!

Unknown said...

yeah i also have tried beets in many many years, and now I want to try them :)

Virginie said...

Talking about your cookbook, I recently tested one of your recipe. It was very nice. I will write about it on my blog in a few days.

DJ said...

Oh, this recipe takes me back! Traditional Christmas recipe when I was growing up but my husband is a hater so it's not appeared on our table for several years!

Babette said...

I get a lot of beets from my farmer. I usually eat them raw in salads, but a new soup that is at least a little different from borscht would be a nice change... I'll have to get your book!

Virginie said...

Hi, my post about your book is here: http://absolutegreen.blogspot.com/2010/02/urban-vegan.html
Thanks (again?) to mention Végétariens Magazine on the cover.

R3 Method Show said...

I mainly juice beets, so I would love to try this soup!

Toyota Sudden Acceleration Lawyers said...

Last week I had my very first beet salad. I didn't know it was going to turn my entire mouth red. But, nonetheless, it was a delicious beet salad.

KleoPatra said...

Great hand!

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

I'm also so scared when I work with beets! They stain everything!