Borscht from Kiev

Clayton Schmitt (schmittc@chiriqui.com)

Stock

Soup

All ingredients marked with the * are to be placed in a small cloth bag. Tie the bag shut and place into the stock pot. Place meat bones, meat, and water in a large stock pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Skim the foam as needed. Add the remaining stock ingredients, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Wash, dry, and peel the beets. Wrap them in aluminum foil and bake in oven for 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove from oven, allow to cool, and dice 1/4".

Remove the ham bone, meat & marrow bones from the stock. Set the marrow bones aside. Strain the stock through a fine sieve into a clean pot. Discard the solids. Bring the stock to a boil add the tomatoes, potatoes and salt & pepper and cook for 10 minutes on low heat covered.

Cook the onions, carrot, & bell pepper in a cast-iron skillet for approx. 5 minutes.. Stir in the cabbage and continue to cook the vegetables for 10 more minutes. Remove the vegetables from heat and add to the stock. Sprinkle the juice of a lemon over the beets and add them to the stock. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and honey to the stock and continue to remove the meat from the bones, strip the marrow out of the marrow bones, and cube the beef 1/2" & add all of this to the stock and cook for 15 minutes more. Remove from heat and serve after adding a generous dollop of sour cream to each bowl.