Polish White Borscht Recipes

POLISH BORSCHT

Steps:

• Place dried mushrooms in a bowl, cover with cold water, and soak for 30 minutes. Drain.
• While mushrooms are soaking, place beets in a pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain and cool until easily handled. Peel and slice beets.
• Place sliced beets in a large pot and cover with 4 quarts water. Add drained mushrooms, onions, garlic, allspice, bay leaves, salt, and pepper. Stir in oil and lemon juice. Simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes. Garnish with parsley.

POLISH WHITE BORSCHT ON PORK RIBS AND FERMENTED WHEAT STARTER

Steps:

• Grab a large cooking pot, 4-5 quart / litres should be enough. Place just over a pound (around 500 grams) of pork ribs inside.
• Pour in just over 2 quarts (2 litres) of cold water. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat to low-medium. Cover with a lid and cook for 30 minutes.
• While that's cooking, peel the vegetables: 2 carrots, 2 parsley roots, a piece of celery root. Chop into chunky pieces.
• Grab a leek, remove the dirty outer leaves.
• Wash all the veggies under the running water and set them aside.
• Once the 30 minutes are up, add chopped vegetables to the pot. Add the spices: 3 all-spice berries, 2 bay leaves, 5 black peppercorns.
• Bring the pot to boil, reduce the heat to low and cook undercover for another hour.
• After that time, peel a garlic clove and smash it with a side of a knife. Add to the pot.
• Add 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of grated horseradish. This can be from a jar or freshly grated - whatever you have available.
• Cook for another 5 minutes or so. Grab another pot and place a strainer over it. Pour our soup through it. Don't throw the veggies and meat away! Keep them on the side for now.
• Grab a piece of smoked bacon. If it has a tough skin, cut it off. Cut the meat into cubes, roughly quarter of an inch (5-6 mm) in size.
• Heat up 1 teaspoon of canola oil and 1 teaspoon of butter. Add chopped bacon. Fry for 5-7 minutes, until the meat cubes turn lightly golden. Add it to the soup.
• Grab 4 white kiełbasa links, poke them with a toothpick in a few places. Add them to the pot and cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
• Add 1⅓ cup (300ml) of sour wheat starter for a milder Barszcz, up to 2 cups (or more; roughly 500ml) for a sharper result. If you're not sure how much to add, pour it over gradually, tasting along the way. There are two ways to do it: • Mix the contents of the jar/bottle, so that the liquid part blends with the floury part, • Or start by adding the liquid only, topping with the muddy floury part later on - spoonful by spoonful, until you reach the desired thickness. That's how I do it.
• Add 2 teaspoons of dried marjoram and bring to a boil. Cook for a few minutes, stirring continuously. Have a taste - does it need some seasoning? If so, add a pinch of salt and pepper.
• Pour the sour cream into a cup. Gradually add some hot soup in (around 8 tablespoons in total), spoonful by spoonful, stirring as you go. Pour over this creamy mixture into the soup, mix it in with a spoon.
• Do you want to serve your soup with vegetables and meat? Chop some veggies into pieces. Remove the meat from the bone. Add them to the soup. Cook for another 2-3 minutes on a low heat.
• Peel the boiled eggs, slice them in half.
• To serve, pour the soup over into bowls or soup plates. Distribute the pieces of meat and vegetables evenly. Add a portion of sausage to each plate - whole links or slices, up to you.
• Decorate with halved boiled eggs and fresh marjoram.

EASTER WHITE BORSCHT

Steps:

• Bring water, kielbasa, and 2 whole cloves garlic to boil in a large pot; reduce heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove sausage and pour liquid into a separate bowl. Cut sausage into cubes.
• Melt butter over medium heat in the pot used to boil sausage; cook and stir leeks, onion, and minced garlic until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer vegetables to a blender; add about 1/2 cup reserved sausage water and blend until smooth, adding more water as needed.
• Pour vegetable puree and remaining sausage water back into the original pot. Add bay leaves and bring borscht to a simmer over medium heat; remove and discard leaves. Whisk sour cream and flour in a bowl until smooth; gradually whisk into borscht until thickened. Stir dill and vinegar into soup and season with salt and black pepper.
• Divide cubed sausage and chopped eggs into bowls; ladle borscht over sausage and egg.

POLISH WHITE BORSCHT (BIALY BARSZCZ)

Steps:

• Bring keilbassa and water to a boil in a large dutch oven or heavy bottomed soup pot. Reduce heat slightly and boil for 25 minutes. Remove keilbassa to a plate and set aside. Leave the broth in the dutch oven.
• In a medium, non-stick skillet, saute garlic and onion with a tsp of butter until soft, 5 min.
• Add onion mixture to kielbassa broth. Add diced potatoes, bay, salt, and pepper. Cook until potatoes are tender, 15-20 min.
• In a small bowl, whisk flour and sour cream together until smooth. Add ½ c of the soup broth to the sour cream mixture and whisk until smooth and thin. Pour mixture into the soup, stirring constantly. Simmer, stirring often, until thickened, 10 min.
• Cut the kielbasas into 1/2 inch slices, chop the hard boiled eggs. Add both to the soup. Taste the soup and adjust the salt an pepper as desired. Cook 1-2 minutes to heat through.

POLISH WHITE BORSCHT ..SOUP

Steps:

• 1. Put water in a large pan. Add the sausage and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook on low-simmer for 25 minutes. Remove sausage, reserving the liquid. Set sausage aside and let cool.
• 2. Add buttermilk to cooking liquid and return to a boil. reduce heat to low and simmer. In a medium size bowl, combine 1 egg with the 1 cup of milk. Gradually whisk in the flour and stir till smooth.
• 3. Add 3 Tablespoons of the simmering soup to the milk and egg mixture and stir to combine. Slowly drizzle milk,egg and flour mixture into the simmering soup, whisking continuously until all has been added. Continue to simmer and stir until the soup has thickened.
• 4. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the cut up cup cooked potatoes, along with the sausage cut up into bite size pieces. Serve on a bowl with the hard boiled, quartered egg on top. I like to add some prepared horseradish on the side, along with a sprinkle of parsley.

WHITE BORSCHT

Steps:

• Cut kielbasa into 4 equal lengths, and cover in a pot with 3 quarts cold water and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then let gently boil for 25 minutes more until swollen and cooked through and beads of oil have formed. Pull sausages from the now smoky and seasoned water, and set aside. Save that water!
• While the kielbasa simmers, split leeks in half lengthwise, then soak and rinse in cold water to thoroughly remove all sand. Slice leeks into 3/8-inch half-moons from whites to dark greens, as far up as is viable.
• Peel potatoes, trim all four sides to stabilize on the cutting board and trim both ends to "box" the potato. Save the scraps. Cut the boxes into large cubes, about 3/4-inch square.
• In a sturdy soup pot, melt 1 stick butter over low heat until foaming. Stir in onion, garlic and a healthy pinch of salt, and let them sweat for a full 5 minutes until translucent.
• Stir in remaining butter, the sliced leeks and another generous pinch of salt, then let sweat slowly over low heat for 8 minutes until moist, bright green and glossy.
• Add potato scraps, the cube of bread and half the kielbasa boiling liquid. Let gently simmer 10 minutes while the potato scrap softens and the bread hunk becomes flabby and swollen. If you need to increase the heat to get a little simmer going, do so.
• Meanwhile, slice kielbasa in half lengthwise. Place two pieces back into the soup pot as is, and then slice the remaining 6 pieces into very thin, 1/8-inch half-moons, and set aside.
• Retrieve the soggy lump of sourdough bread with a slotted spoon, and don't worry if you also get a few bits of leek or onion or whatever is floating in the soup when you pull it out. Also remove about 1 cup of liquid, and set aside.
• Add potato cubes and the rest of the kielbasa liquid to the pot. Add another pinch of salt and half the black pepper. Let it come back to temperature, and then to simmer until potatoes are cooked through, about 25 minutes more.
• Using either a stick blender or a traditional blender, purée the sodden hunk of bread until foamy, using some of the liquid you pulled in Step 8, if needed. Stir this back into the soup pot once the potatoes are cooked through, and add the sliced kielbasa as well.
• Whisk the crème fraîche with 1/2 cup of the hot reserved liquid; stir mixture into the soup. Stir in the chopped dill and the remaining 1/2 tablespoon pepper. Serve very hot.

POLISH WHITE BORSCHT (BIALY BARSZCZ)

Steps:

• Place the kielbasa and eggs (still in their shells, they are going to be hard-cooked) into a 4-quart pot and cover with the water and bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently for 8 minutes.
• Use a slotted spoon, to remove eggs to an ice water bath; continue simmering the kielbasa for 15 minutes more.
• Drain kielbasa, reserving the cooking liquid separately.
• Return the pot to the heat melt the butter; turn the heat up to medium and stir in the garlic and leeks and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
• Reduce heat and cook until leeks are very tender, about 20 minutes, being careful not to let the leeks brown.
• Stir in the potatoes and reserved cooking liquid, increase heat to a simmer, cover, and continue cooking until potatoes are tender, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Puree the soup using an immersion blender, or in a standing blender, in batches; return soup to medium-low heat.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and sour cream; stir in 1/2 cup of the soup to temper the mixture, then whisk into the soup in the pot on the stove.
• Slice the kielbasa into 1/2-inch slices and stir into soup; stir in horseradish and season with salt and pepper.
• Thin soup with water if needed.
• Peel the eggs and roughly chop them as a garnish for the soup.

WHITE BORSCHT

Steps:

• Place water in a large pan.
• Add sausage and bring to a boil over high heat.
• Reduce heat to low-simmer and cook, covered, for 30 minutes.
• Remove sausage, reserving cooking liquid, and set sausage aside to cool.
• Add buttermilk to cooking liquid and return to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer.
• In a medium bowl, combine milk and egg.
• Gradually whisk in flour and stir until smooth.
• Add 3 tablespoons of the simmering soup base to the milk-egg mixture and stir to combine (this tempers the egg so it doesn't curdle when added to the soup base).
• Slowly drizzle milk-egg mixture into the simmering soup, whisking continuously until all has been added, continue to simmer until soup has thickened.
• Add salt to taste.
• Serve with reserved Polish sausage.
• May also be served with boiled potatoes, slices of hard boiled egg and a dollop of prepared horseradish.

BOBCHA'S POLISH BORSCHT

Steps:

• In a large pot combine the spare ribs, onion, bay leaf and peppercorns, vinegar and cover with water. Bring to a simmer and cook until the meat is tender, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. In another pot, cover the scrubbed beets with water and bring to a boil. Simmer the beets for 45 To 1 hour or until the beets are tender. Drain and rinse the beets under cold water until they are cool. Peel and grate the beets.
• When the meat is tender, Remove the bones and strip off the meat in bite size pieces. Return the meat to the broth and stir in the grated beets. Season the soup with salt and pepper. In a large bowl stir together the sour cream, milk and flour. Add two cups of the hot stock to the sour cream mixture and stir to combine. Pour this mixture through a strainer into the soup. Heat the soup over medium heat at a gentle simmer, but do not allow it to boil. Boiling will cause the sour cream to curdle. Serve immediately with boiled potatoes and pumpernickel or rye bread

POLISH WHITE BORSCHT

Steps:

• Boil kielbasa and 8 C water in 6 qt saucepan. Reduce heat to med low; cook to flavor broth about 24 min. Pour liquid and kielbasa into a bowl;reserve. Return pan to med heat. Add buter, garlic, leeks, and onions;cook until soft, about 10 min. Add reserved liquid, potatoes, marjoram, and bay leaf;boil. Reduce heat to med low; cook until potatoes are tender, about 30 min. Discard marjoran and bay leaf;puree soup in blender. Return soup to pot;bring to a simmer. Whisk sour cream and flour in a bowl, add 1/2 C soup, and whisk until smooth. Pour mixture into soup;cook, stirring until thickened. Cut kielbasa into 1/2" thick slices;add to soup along with horseradish, salt and pepper. Garnish with dill, parsley and eggs