Dont you just love colors?
Especially with spring around the corner, I want to eat food thats bright and beautiful....even if the weather here in SF keeps bouncing back and forth from sunny to nasty.
One of my favorite colors is pink. Atomic pink, to be precise (if your familiar with special effects, you know what I'm talking about). Its really rare that I get to cook food thats actually pink...but last night I went for it. I made Borsht, the wonderful Russian beet soup. There are a LOT of variations of borsht. I basically make it like my grandma makes it (minus the whole meaty aspect of it). Now for the record, there are two classic versions of borsht. The hot beet soup is called borsht. There is also a cold beet soup, which is very similar, and its called svekolnik, which basically just means "beet soup". The cold beet soup is always made vegan. The hot one can be vegan or not. The recipe is really easy to play with. I just adjust it to my preferences ,which is towards more potatoes and less cabbage, but you can do it however. Oh yeah and sorry in advance for the absence of any accurate form of measurement.
Ingredients:
3 very large, or 4 smaller beets
1 and 1/8 white onion
2 carrots (or more depending on preference)
half a small head of cabbage (I used a very small cabbage, but again, it depends on your preferences.
2 little cans of tomato paste
Potatoes...I like potatoes so I used four. I think traditionally its more like three potatoes and a little more cabbage, but it really depends on how you like it.
dill
garlic...I think I used 4 or 5 cloves
sour cream, for serving. traditional but not mandatory in any way.

In a med. size pot, boil the beets. I usually boil em whole of cut them in half. Dont bother peeling them first, as it is a pain in the ass. Much easier to do after they are cooked.
At the same time, get a really big pot, and fill it with water. Leave some room tho as the water will rise as you add all the veggies. Peel and dice up your potatoes. Make sure the pieces you are cutting are not too small. If they are they will cook too fast. Add your potatoes to the big pot, along with the whole onion and whole carrots. Keep this pot on about med heat.
While your beets are cooking, you can slice up the cabbage. If you want a slightly more filling and fattier tasting soup, lightly saute the cabbage with the 1/8 of the onion in some olive oil and salt n pepper. Sometimes I will take out one of the carrots, grate it up and saute it as well. Set aside.
Cook your beets until they are at that "just ready" state. Turn off the burner. Grab a fork, and impale your beet. Stick it under cold water, grab a knife and peel it. It will be SUPER easy. Next you have to grate it. What I usually do is have my grater set up right next to the sink. I keep the beet in ice cold water, and then grab it and grate! If it gets too hot I put it back under the water for a big.
Remove your large whole onion and carrots from the pot. Traditionally you compost the onion and carrot...but I like carrot so I grate it up along with the beets.
Take a little of the water out of your big pot, and use it to help you dissolve the tomato paste a bit, then add the paste in and stir.
At this point your basically done....add the beets, cabbage, and chopped garlic. Bring to a boil for a minute or two and your done. Chop your dill and throw some in at the last minute.

Basically the trickiest part of the recipe is to not overcook the potatoes. Other than that its eaasy and super yummy. To serve, pour some in a bowl and add a table spoon or so of sour cream (if you do dairy). Your borsht will turn the most beautiful color ever!!! Sprinkle some dill on top and your good to go!


Yay! So thats a recipe from Yuliya...sorry for all the unprofessionalness of it all.
Anyone else have any recipes for beautifully bright pink (or other cool colors) food?