Last month I shared with you a Borscht recipe I got from my
friend Ann Kelley. You can find that in the Musical
Recipes Archive, but now I'm getting serious! I'm giving
you my latest version of Borscht. Like a true musical improviser,
my recipes are always changing. This is the one I've been cooking
for the last year or so. It's the real thing (for now!). (Those of you anxious to get
to the new music first, click here)
Peter's Borscht Recipe 2002
Ingredients
- Beef bones (for stock)
- 11/2 to 2 pounds beef (I usually get
sliced up beef pre-packaged for stroganoff or stir-fry)
- 1 large container beef broth or 2 cans beef broth
- 1 large onion (chopped finely)
- 3 beets (sliced into thin sticks)
- 4 carrots (cut into bite-sized pieces)
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- 5 medium potatoes (cut into bite-sized pieces)
- 1 cup black or navy beans (soaked overnight)
- 1/2 small head of cabbage (shredded)
- 1 28 ounce can of tomatoes
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbs beef bouillon (I use Gourmet Award brand)
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Soak the beans overnight. Rinse and discard water before using.
Bring the beef bones to a boil in 2 quarts of water and let
simmer for a few hours. Discard the bones, and skim off any fat
and crud. Keep broth simmering and add the beans.
In a frying pan add 2 tablespoons of oil and saute onions
until clear. Add the beef to the onions and saute until evenly
browned.
Add the beef and onions to the simmering beef broth. Add the
tomatoes, carrots, beets, potatoes and canned broth to the simmering
broth. Add pepper (1 tbs). Let simmer 30 to 45 minutes, or until
the beans and vegetables are tender.
Add shredded cabbage and 2 tbs. beef bouillon. Let simmer
another 5 minutes.
It should be done! Taste for saltiness (beef bouillon is salty,
so you may not want to add any additional salt). Serve with dollops
of sour cream, fresh dark crusty bread like pumpernickel or rye,
and of course, raw cloves of garlic (dipped in salt and eaten
raw).
I also make this recipe using chicken or turkey. The only
thing that would change is that you would need to substitute
chicken stock and chicken bouillon. Rather than beef bones, I
just get a whole chicken and simmer that in a pot for 2 hours
to make the stock. Then cool the chicken and take the meat off
the bones. Add the meat after the vegetables have cooked for
20 minutes or so. (click here for a printer-friendly version of
this recipe)
Earlier recipes and tunes can be found in my Musical
Recipes Archive
| Click here for the lyrics to my song "Borscht", where I sing out my
original borscht recipe in rhyme. It's all there, and easy to
follow. "Borscht" was recorded on an album called "Down
the Streets of My Old Neighborhood" on Rounder Records.
The recording was never issued on CD, but it is still available
on cassette. You can order it from Rounder Records. The record
number is #0227, and while you're at it, you can request that
they put the record out on CD. If enough of you ask, then they'll
probably do it. |
Meditation from the Thin
Space at St. Paul's Chapel
I
wrote Meditation from the Thin Space at St. Paul's Chapel
after my wife Marge spent a few days there at the closing prayer
ceremonies. She was interviewing some of the chaplains and workers
(who had been at the World Trade Center for the last year since
9/11) for a radio show she produces called First Person.
As she told me about her trip, I could see she was visibly moved
by her experience at Ground Zero. She asked me to write a piece
of music for St. Paul's Chapel, and using her emotions as a guide,
out came this piece of music.
I performed it with Ritchie Dworsky on A Prairie Home Companion
in June, and this was a chart that Ritchie wrote up. I wrote
it for mandolin and piano, but the melody could be played on
other instruments. I hope you enjoy it.
Comments, questions or other recipes for borscht? Write to
me at PO Box 11952, Minneapolis MN 55411 or send an e-mail to
Borscht@PeterOstroushko.com.
Earlier tunes and recipes can be found in my Musical
Recipes Archive
Song manuscripts can be
found here
