One of the best parts of my job is the opportunity to meet new people.
So many different people with their individual life experiences are called to our profession, and I am often impressed and always fascinated by the unique paths each of us took to arrive in the same break room. I share my stories and knowledge freely in the hopes that others will feel safe to share theirs with me, and that through that vulnerability, a friendship might grow.
Last week I worked closely with a woman I had met only briefly a few times before. She was born and raised in Russia (her heavy accent told me that before she did). Over the week, she frequently compared her childhood and education in Russia to our school, remarking how fortunate the children are to have such beautiful things to learn and play with.
She marveled at the artwork in the halls — the walls in her school were bare, she said, and colored paper was hard to find. Instead of the plain clothes and modest toy boxes of her childhood, the children here have colorful clothes and shoes that light up and a wealth of toys in their homes and classrooms. She could not have dreamed of such abundance, she said, as she helped me put the toys away at the end of the day.
Of course, we talked a lot about food. I have been wanting to feature this dish here for some time, but I was waiting for a homestyle recipe from a primary source … plucking a random recipe from a Google search wouldn’t do.
I knew if I asked, she would have an excellent recipe for borscht. She wrote down the ingredients and gave me a few specific instructions, but she didn’t include measurements for any of the ingredients because she said, “You’re a cook. You know.”
She told me that I needed to get beef with bone in it to make a flavorful broth, but the best I could find for this purpose was oxtails. I’m sure borscht isn’t often made with oxtails, but the slow-simmered broth was rich and sticky with collagen and made the otherwise simple soup quite luxurious.
Homestyle Borscht
Ingredients:
1 pound oxtails
5 raw beets
2 carrots
½ large white onion
1 large russet potato
4 stalks celery
1 ½ cups cabbage, roughly chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
Salt to taste
Directions:
Cover the oxtails in cold water and let soak for 1 hour.
Drain and thoroughly rinse the oxtails, place in your crock pot, and cover with water.
Set the slow cooker on low heat and let simmer, undisturbed, for 24 hours.
Remove the oxtails from the broth, remove the meat from the bone, chop, and refrigerate.
Allow the broth to cool and then transfer to the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
A cap of solid fat will have formed on the surface- remove and discard.
Peel and dice your beets, carrots, and potato.
Chop the onion, celery, and cabbage into small pieces.
Put the beets into a soup pot and cover with the beef bone broth and bring to a simmer. Add some water if necessary.
Saute the onion, carrot, and celery until the onions are translucent and the carrots are softened.
Transfer the cooked vegetables to the pot.
Add water if necessary to cover and return to a simmer.
When the beets are softened, add the cabbage and potato, add water, and return to a slow simmer. At no point should the soup reach a full boil.
When the potatoes are soft, add in the cooked beef and continue cooking for 5 more minutes.
Turn off the heat and stir in the fresh herbs.
Taste and season with salt, black pepper, and maybe some vinegar.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt and some more fresh dill on top.
