a good beet recipe

I say this because I don't like beets. They taste like dirt. But, I do like this recipe!

Borscht (modified a tiny bit from Saveur Magazine)

Thinly slice one large yellow onion and throw it in a pan with 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. Cover and cook the onions, on low heat, for about 10 minutes.



While that's cooking, grate a mountain of carrots (about 2 medium)...



...a mountain of beets (about 2 large)...



...and a mountain of white cabbage (although this is more of a foothill because we ran out of cabbage, and it's more shredded and chopped than grated - you need about 4 cups)...



When the onions are done, throw in the carrots, beets and cabbage, cover, and cook until tender, about 20 minutes.



While that's cooking, grate a mountain of potatoes (about two). Set these aside. The recipe calls for grating these and then boiling them in 8 cups of water. Instead, we boiled them whole then peeled them and grated the cooled down potatoes.



The recipe calls for putting the potato water in the pot for the "broth" but that's just not rich enough so we used our own homemade chicken broth (which we had to thaw out first).



Next, add 1 tablespoon tomato paste (we used our own homemade!), 1 tablespoon sugar (I used honey), and one tablespoon white wine vinegar to the vegetables and cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves.



At this point you throw in the potatoes and the broth (or the potato water if you prefer that; 6-8 cups either way, depending on how soupy you like it) and simmer for 10 minutes. While simmering, you can chop up 3 tablespoons each of fresh dill, parsley, and chives. The chives at least we got from our garden. No dill or parsely this year.



Toss in the herbs and salt and pepper to taste.



Serve with more herbs if you like, minced garlic if you like, a dollop of sour cream and some fresh, homemade bread. Mmmmm!