Sundays with Marlena Spieler-Sweet & Sour Cabbage, Beet, & Tomato Borscht

My new favorite thing at Trader Joe's. Find on the top shelf near produce! Click on photos in order to smell it cooking.
So it begins. Actually...I grated first when I should have diced the beets..but it worked out!
The cabbage crashes the borscht party! A few more diced beets too. Beets are always stragglers.
Voila. This is killer soup. Serve hot or cold. Recipe below. Marlena...this is a very good recipe. My first time eating borscht and I loved it...so did Dave. Sweet and sour heaven in a bowl.

Ingredients: Serves about 6, although I made enough for 12. :)

One chopped onion
1 chopped carrot
6 baby sized beets..cooked and cooled..or buy em like I did.
grate 3 and dice 3...saved the diced to add 10 minutes before serving
4 cups of veggie stock
1 14. oz can plum or diced tomatoes
3 TBS sugar
6 small new potatoes..or fingerling's..diced into bite size pieces
1 small white cabbage..or 1/2 of a large one, sliced thinly
2-3 TBS white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
3 TBS chopped fresh dill or about 1 1/2 TBS dry dill
Salt and ground pepper to taste
Sour cream to garnish ( omit if meat is added to borscht..which makes it Kashrut and serve with unbuttered rye bread)
If you have it, garnish with fresh dill or use chopped flat leaf parsley..which is what I did.

Put everything in a large pot except for the diced beets, vinegar, sugar, and dill.

Bring to a boil and then simmer until potatoes are just tender. I covered the pot while it simmered. It took about 15 minutes or so. I then added the vinegar a little at a time..and the sugar..tasted as I went for that perfect sweet and sour balance..like Marlena says to do. Taste people! I let it simmer a bit longer. Add the dill to taste. Serve hot or cold. We had it hot with some flatbread. So very good and hearty. [btw..my husband suggested that we add a tsp or so of the fabulous horseradish that we bought today...and it just made the soup more fabulous]

It is a variation on a classic Ashkenazim soup. Like the checkout guy at Trader Joe's said to me today.."are you making borscht?" I say yes. "I know all about that...grew up on it. My parents are from Russia." I told him I was cooking and blogging thru a Jewish Cookbook and he smiled and said, "there are lots of us from Russia."

Be sure to check out my pals blogs for their servings from Jewish Cooking. Eileen at Just the Two of Us and Shankari at Sacramento Spice. Keep checking back this week for more yummy recipes and photos!

Shalom. P.S. I know that I spelled thru wrong. **there is a song called B O R S C H T by Peter Ostroushko..found the lyrics at gumbopages. I am looking for the CD now