Barszcz takes a little bit of time to cook that is why we always make a big batch; It never lasts too long.
I love anything with beets - soups, salads, smoothies, juices, cookies - but peeling beets is one of my least favourite activities as it severely stains your skin and it is extremely difficult to remove. Hence when handling beets I use latex gloves which effectively solve the problem.
Important note - never cover beet soup while cooking it as it will become brown; you want to maintain beets beautiful ruby colour.
I love anything with beets - soups, salads, smoothies, juices, cookies - but peeling beets is one of my least favourite activities as it severely stains your skin and it is extremely difficult to remove. Hence when handling beets I use latex gloves which effectively solve the problem.
Ingredients:
4 carrots
2 parsnips
0.25 large celery root
9 medium sized beets
1 leek
1 onion
3 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half
3 whole allspice
10 black pepper corns
3-4 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice (helps in preserving the colour)
10 dried mushrooms
1. Peel and clean carrots, celery root, parsnip, leek, onion. Cut into large chunks, it will be taken out later and used in a Polish Vegetable salad.
2. Soak dried mushrooms for about 15 minutes.
3. Place carrots, celery, parsnip, leek, onion, dried mushrooms, and all spices (other than garlic and lemon/vinegar) in a large pot, add 2-3 litres of water. Bring to boil then lower the heat to gas mark 2.4 and cook for about an hour.
4. Peel beets, but into 6-8 pieces each. Set aside.
5. Take out all vegetables from the soup leaving mushrooms in. Set them aside to cool.
Add beets, vinegar and garlic. Cook on a low heat 1.8 - 2.0 for another 3-4 hours. Add more water if needed. If you use too high heat you will lose the ruby colour of beets.
6. Take beets and all other spices and vegetables out. Since we don't like wasting food we keep the beets and use them in salads.
7. Serve clear soup in a cup or a bowl.
Beet soup can be served with uszka - Polish dumpligs with mushrooms. This way it would be served in a bowl.
Other alternatives are pasztecik - yeast cakes, or kulebiak - cabbage cake. This way we serve it in a cup as a drinking soup.
8. Enjoy!
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