{"id":117,"date":"2012-11-16T18:40:32","date_gmt":"2012-11-16T22:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jadickin\/?p=117"},"modified":"2012-11-17T16:02:18","modified_gmt":"2012-11-17T20:02:18","slug":"the-power-of-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jadickin\/2012\/11\/16\/the-power-of-soup\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am home today with a powerful cold and intense laryngitis.\u00a0 My thoughts, quite logically turned to soup and digging through the vegetable drawer and pantry I found I had the ingredients to cook up the perfect soup for late fall, borschch\u00a0 (the Russian word ends with the letter “\u0449” transliterated “shch,” not with a “t’).\u00a0 Soup is very much a part of Russian and Ukrainian cuisine, often served as a first course for the main meal, or eaten by itself as a lighter supper, always with black or white bread.\u00a0 In tougher times I remember arriving for a visit with a friend and finding only a soup bone and a few vegetables in the fridge.\u00a0 She brought home a loaf of bread, and quickly put together a soup that that fed the whole family for an evening meal.\u00a0 Soup, whether weathering a cold or weathering tough times, will get you through.<\/p>\n

I have, over the years, enjoyed asking people in Russian and Ukraine to tell me how they make borschch.\u00a0 The answers are as varied as their recipes, ranging from “red” borshch made with beets and sometimes tomato, to “green” borshch made with sorrel, spinach or even nettles.\u00a0 I have had people say that borschch is Ukrainian or Russian, that it “must” have one thing or another to be a “true” borsch but when you gather the mindboggling range of variations it seems that borschch can be almost anything.\u00a0 Borshch is generally made with beef or chicken stock but can easily be made vegetarian with no loss of flavor; here I have added beans and cabbage to create a soup that is a hearty meal in itself.\u00a0 I’ve also added some celery.\u00a0 Celery is an unorthodox ingredient but here it adds depth to the soup base; leave it out for a more authentic flavor.<\/p>\n

Vegetarian Borshch with Everything<\/strong><\/p>\n

4 cups vegetable stock plus 2 cups water<\/p>\n

2 tbsp olive oil<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Vegetarian Borshch<\/p><\/div>\n

1\/4 cup chopped onion<\/p>\n

2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1\/2″ pieces<\/p>\n

1 stalk celery, chopped (optional)<\/p>\n

2 medium (2.5″ diameter) beets, peeled and cut into 1\/2″ slices, then cut into 1\/2″ wide strips<\/p>\n

1 large or 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1\/2″ cubes<\/p>\n

1 bay leaf<\/p>\n

2 tbsp. chopped dill, plus more for garnish<\/p>\n

1 can diced tomatoes<\/p>\n

1 can cannellini beans<\/p>\n

1 cup cabbage, thinly sliced<\/p>\n

sour cream, for garnish<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saute onions in oil over medium heat until the onions begin to brown.\u00a0 Turn heat down to medium-low.\u00a0 Add celery and carrot and cook, stirring for a few minutes.\u00a0 Add beets and potatoes, mix thoroughly, then add dill, bay leaf, broth, tomatoes and beans.\u00a0 Raise heat to medium high to bring to a boil, then lower, cover and simmer for 1 hour, adding water to reach desired thickness.\u00a0 Add salt to taste, then cabbage, if desired, and cook another hour.\u00a0 Serve with a dollop of sour cream and black bread on the side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am home today with a powerful cold and intense laryngitis.\u00a0 My thoughts, quite logically turned to soup and digging through the vegetable drawer and pantry I found I had the ingredients to cook up the perfect soup for late fall, borschch\u00a0 (the Russian word ends with the letter “\u0449” transliterated “shch,” not with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5701,38570],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food","category-ukrainian-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jadickin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jadickin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jadickin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jadickin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jadickin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jadickin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jadickin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jadickin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jadickin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/jadickin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}