For many years, I would only make a vegan borscht mostly consisting of oven-roasted beets and vegetables. As is the case for many with allergies, I’ve always found raw beets to make my throat scratchy. For Rosh Hashanah dinner with family last year, I decided to turn my recipe into a beef borscht reminiscent to the one my great grandmother would make. I’m told it was delicious!
For this beef borscht, I went with kosher flanken because of it’s tenderness. It definitely added a heartiness to the soup which I would make again.
“I’ve never had borscht… It sounds gross.“
Borscht is a traditional soup deeply rooted in the histories of Eastern Europe and Jewish cooking. Specifically, borscht was brought to the United States by Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews from Ukraine and Russia and the word comes from Yiddish (באָרשט). While there are many ways to make borscht, you can’t make borscht without beets.
Beets are highly anti-inflammatory, great for boosting the immune system, heart health and assisting with blood pressure. It feels good to eat borscht.
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Ingredients
Method
- Season Flanken and sear on high heat until a crust develops on each side of the meat. Remove from the pot and set aside.
- Roast the beets in aluminum foil in the oven, or boil them in water until tender.
- To begin the stock, heat olive oil in a large pot and sauté leek, onion and carrots until softened (about 5 mins). Add in tomato paste, bay leaf, cooked beets and cover with water. Add in a bit of sugar for sweetness. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 1-2 hours.
- Place the meat back into the pot with another heaping tablespoon of tomato paste. Cook for another 30 minutes.