Golden Borscht

Winter CSAs will, I think, lend themselves nicely to soup. About the time you're looking at the bits and pieces left in your fridge, soup starts to sound good.

And I have officially used everything from the First Box! Tomorrow I get to pick up the Second Box!

I had three golden beets left from the summer farmer's market, plus some potatoes from my CSA farmer's booth, and the CSA bok choy, and some Granny Smiths from my husband's parents' orchard ... yep, it's a go. Recipe is a hybrid of six I found in various cookbooks. This borscht was so good I made a second batch of it with more beets (organic from Yoke's Market) and the other CSA bok choy. It's robust, which I think was the original borscht inventors' idea.

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GOLDEN BORSCHT

Saute 15 minutes:
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1 large onion, chopped or halved and sliced thinly
3 carrots, diced
6-8 kale leaves, sliced (I used one of my CSA bok choys)
or 1/2 head cabbage, sliced
1 cup diced celery

Sprinkle on and stir in:
3 tablespoons smoked paprika

Add and simmer for 1 hour:
2 quarts beef broth (I used Imagine brand organic)
1 Granny Smith apple, diced
3 beets, golden or red, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can tomato paste
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
a few grinds black pepper

Add:
2 local potatoes, diced
pinch crushed red pepper, more if you wish

Yogurt or goat cheese
Dill

Cook 'til potatoes are tender. Remove bay leaves. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve with sour cream (or yogurt or crumbled goat cheese) and chopped dill (fresh is best, dried is okay) to top each serving.