My Bubbe Jennie's Beet Borscht

Thanks to Gloria Whitman for this great recipe!

I absolutely adore this sweet and sour soup. I love its taste, color and texture. There's nothing better, especially with a potato in the soup and a dollop of sour cream on top! Make pickled beets with left-over beet slices.

Ingredients:

2 quarts water
8 large or 12 small beets, peeled
½ C sugar
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
1 tsp salt or to taste
juice of 4 lemons, or bottled juice to taste
6 small potatoes
3 eggs sour cream

Method:

1. Bring water to a boil. Wash beets thoroughly, scrubbing away sandy parts. Cut away root and steam ends. Peel and cut in halves. Add beets and onion to water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 45 minutes, or until beets are almost tender.

2. Add salt, sugar and lemon juice to the pot and taste-test until it is the balance of sweet and sour you like. Continue simmering for another 15 minutes or until beets are tender. Remove beets from the soup. Drain and cool them. Julienne about half the beets and reserve for the soup.

3. Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl until frothy. Gradually add about 2-3 C of the beet broth to the eggs in half-cup increments, whisking the mixture continuously Add the rest of the broth in larger increments. When the soup is all added to the egg mixture, add the julienned beets back to the broth and refrigerate until ready to serve.

4. About a half-hour before serving, peel and boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until tender. Drain and place one or two potatoes in each soup bowl.

5. Ladle cold borscht over the hot potatoes and serve immediately with sour cream on top or on the side. The mix of hot and cold is quite unique. When you've tried borscht this way, you'll never want to have it any other way.