Borscht: Soup as Practice

Soup, I feel, is one of the easiest foods to make and the most forgiving thing on this good Earth.  Some vegetables, a little bit of stock or water, herbs, spices, salt and pepper, and you've got yourself a cozy little bowl of heaven.  The amount of each thing isn't even really that important as long as you taste along the way; in fact, I think it is probably a good practice to approach soup in this manner.  If you have a recipe, plumb it for ideas and then set it aside.  Use soup as a stepping stone to effective kitchen experimentation and enlightenment; try new combinations and new methods of adding and intensifying flavors.  Have fun.  

The worst thing that will happen is the dish might come across as bland or ugly, the first can be remedied with some salt and the worst of the second can be mitigated with a bit of clever plating.  

Making soup in this way is like playing with blocks; if you mess up nobody gets hurt, it can all be put back together again, and through the process maybe you stretch your abilities a little bit and become more familiar with your kitchen and your ingredients.  I wouldn't recommend this practice for something like pie dough or custard.  A slap-dash approach to either of these is like driving over a mountain with your eyes closed; you're liable to make a huge mess of things and somebody is going to have their day ruined. 

Borscht is a very simple soup that allows for experimentation while generally ending up tasting very good.  This version of borscht is basically red cabbage, beet, and potato in stock underpinned with diced mirpoix (onion, celery, and carrots), tomatoes, herbs, and spices.

 

Simple Borscht:

Olive Oil or Butter

1 Onion, diced

2 Cloves Garlic

2 Celery Sticks, diced

2 Carrots, diced

Parsley

Other herbs or spices (red pepper flake, thyme, bay leaf, maybe some tarragon)

1 small head of red cabbage, cut into strips

1 or 2 red beets

1 or 2 waxy yellow or red potatoes (maybe do celeriac here, or parsnips, or parsley root, rutabega?)

1 lb. peeled and diced tomatoes (canned works well of course)

Vegetable Stock or water

Salt and Pepper to taste

Sour cream for serving

Sautée up the onion in olive oil or butter until well browned (20 minutes).  Add the garlic and other herbs or spices with the celery and carrot and sautée for a few minutes more.  Add in the cabbage, beets, potato, and tomato all at once with a hearty helping of salt and pepper.

Add enough stock and/or water to get the soup to your desired consistency.  If you like it more like a stew, add less, if you like a more brothy soup, add more. Bring to a boil then simmer covered until the beet is tender.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream.