Borscht – Beetroot soup with feta recipe

A friend gave me some home grown beetroot so I decided to make a bit of Borscht, or beetroot soup!

Ingredients – Makes enough for 3-4

600g (3-4 large beets), peeled and grated coarsely

500g (around 5-6) of ripe tomatoes, halved (I suppose if you’re really lazy you could use a tin of chopped tomatoes)

2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

A bit of olive oil

500ml of vegetable stock (I used 2 ‘Knorr Stock Pots’)

Freshly ground black pepper

Some feta cheese

Method

Place the halved tomatoes in an oven dish, pour a little olive oil over the top of them and throw on the chopped garlic.

Place in the oven at 190C (I’ve got a fan oven) until they’re soft, it took me about 30 minutes.

Place the tomatoes in a sieve and rub through into a bowl to remove the skins and pips.

Put a little more oil in a pan and sweat the onion with a twist of black pepper.

Add the stock and beetroot, give it all a stir and bring to the boil for about 10 minutes or until the beetroot is tender.

Stir in the tomato purée.

Using either a stick blender or a normal blender process the soup until completely smooth. If you’ve got white walls take care, it’s easy to spray the soup all over if you’re using a stick blender!

Transfer the soup to warmed bowls and crumble a little of the feta cheese on top.

Serve with crusty bread!

You might also want to…

  • Add a shot of vodka
  • Chill in the fridge and serve cold

Seasame potatoes recipe

You can have these with pretty much anything, or on their own the next day, if there’s any left…

Ingredients

Olive oil

1KG potatoes, I used new potatoes

Sesame seeds

Sea salt

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 220C, a little lower for a fan assisted oven.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil.

Cut the potatoes into manageable sized chunks and add to the boiling water.

Par-boil for about 20 minutes, you don’t want to cook them, just get them on their way.

Whilst the potatoes are cooking add a splash of olive oil to a baking tray and place in the oven to warm up.

Drain the water and with a lid on the pan give the potatoes a good shake the rough them up a bit, don’t be too rough you want to keep them whole.

Add the potatoes to the baking tray and toss them around in the hot oil.

Add a good handful of sesame seeds, as much or as little as you want. Add a sprinkle of salt and give the potatoes a good stir so they’re all covered.

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, turning occasionally.