Elder Hangen's Borscht

This just in.

My nephew Thompson is serving as a missionary in Samara, Russia.  He's been there almost 9 months - the time goes so fast!  His letters home are, as you might imagine, always fascinating and full of cultural and personal observations.  When you become so immersed in a foreign place, it changes you, and it's fun to see that happening to him. 

In this week's email, he sent his much-anticipated recipe for homemade borscht.  I went to Russia once, right after my own mission to Toronto.  I think it was the only time I'd had borscht, but I had it several times that week.  So awesome.  Can't wait to try this one...just need to add beets to my shopping list - definitely not a veg I usually buy!

Elder Hangen's Borscht (in his own words)

Cut up two chicken breasts into cubes and cook them with a little oil in the bottom of the borscht pot. 

 

Add a few cups of cut cabbage and a few cubed potatoes and a cut up onion. And add a couple (2?) liters of water. Bring to a boil and let simmer, but don't forget to add:

a few bay leaves, 2 boillon cubes (i'll never spell that right), and some dill and other greenish herbs.

 

Then grate into a frying pan two medium sized beets, and two large carrots. Add enough oil so that they look a little wet (1/3 to 1/2 cup? I don't measure, just pour) and fry them up on the stove.

 

Slice a tomato into wedges and add them to the frying pan, along with a large spoonful of tomato paste, and a squirt of barbeque sauce. Stir this all together, and when the potatoes in the pot are soft, add the "borscht mash" in the frying pan to the soup. You'll notice the brilliant red color immediately stain everything. Yum. 

 

Let boil for a while, like 35 minutes, and then let it sit and cool for an hour. Serve in a large bowl with a dollop of sour cream!

Traditionally you'd eat it with black bread. But personally I choose my borscht bread based on it's ability to absorb liquid. Good absorptivity = good borscht bread.

I don't think I forgot any ingredients, but I probably did. A pot this size (3 - 4 liters of borscht) would last a long time, so you could probably half the recipe. 

Honey Wheat Rolls

Here's the only wheat roll recipe you'll ever need.  These are soft and flavorful with a nice high rise I love out of pan rolls.  Butter-and-jelly them, sop them in gravy, use them as slider buns, or really just eat them plain.  If you happen to have any left (unlikely), they're also really delicious with sausage and fruit for breakfast. 

Honey Wheat Rolls (print recipe)
Makes 16 rolls

1 packet "highly active" active dry yeast, or 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast, or 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
3 tablespoons honey
1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 cups King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour or King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2/3 cup instant mashed potato flakes or 1/4 cup potato flour
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk

1.  If you're using active dry or "highly active" yeast, dissolve it with a pinch of sugar in 2 tablespoons of the lukewarm water. Let the yeast and water sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, until the mixture has bubbled and expanded. If you're using instant yeast, you can skip this step.

 2.  Combine the dissolved yeast with the remainder of the water and the rest of the ingredients. Mix and knead everything together—by hand, mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle—till you've made a smooth dough. If you're kneading in a stand mixer, it should take about 5 to 7 minutes at second speed. In a bread machine (or by hand), it should form a smooth ball.

3.  Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise, at room temperature, till it's quite puffy but not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 90 minutes to 2 hours. Rising may take longer, especially if you've kneaded by hand. Give it enough time to become quite puffy.
4.  While the dough is rising, lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan, or two 9" round cake pans.

5.  Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface. Divide it into 16 pieces, or 24 pieces, depending on whether you want larger or smaller rolls.

6.  Shape each piece into a rough ball by pulling the dough into a very small knot at the bottom (think of a balloon with its opening knotted), then rolling it under the palm of your hand into a smooth ball.

7.  Place the rolls in the 9" x 13" pan, or put eight rolls in each of the round cake pans, spacing them evenly; they won't touch one another.

8.  Cover the pans with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the rolls to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. They'll become very puffy, and will reach out and touch one another. While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 350°F.

9.  Bake the rolls for 15 minutes, and tent them loosely with aluminum foil. Continue to bake until they're mahogany-brown on top, but lighter colored on the sides, an additional 10 to 13 minutes.

10.  Remove the rolls from the oven, and after 2 or 3 minutes, carefully transfer them to a rack. They'll be hot and delicate, so be careful. Serve warm, or at room temperature.

Recipe from King Arthur Flour

Asparagus-and-Potato Flatbread

 This amazing thing hails from my favorite oh-why-oh-why-did-they-discontinue-it?!! food magazine, Everyday Food.  Seriously, every time an issue would arrive, I would flip through, loving every page, and ripping over half of them out for my files. 

I made this flatbread a couple months ago with a dinner swap meal.  It could be a side dish, as I used it, or a summery main, in which case it probably serves more like 4.  It is very easy, but maybe not as easy as it claims.  Have you ever shaved asparagus with a vegetable peeler?  You get a couple shaves in, and it breaks.  A little frustrating, and a little wasteful.  But then you can kind of chop/peel the rest in bits, and throw them on.  Maybe you don't get all those beautiful ribbons Martha Stewart promises, but it still tastes the same, which is super duper awesome. 

You can use store bought or homemade pizza dough - because I was making so many, I used Trader Joe's dough, which is $1/lb.  Hard to beat.  The potatoes add a sweet-salty-starchy-ness that's really nice under the earthy asparagus and tangy chevre.  Next time, I would use less goat cheese.  The amount called for overpowered things for me.  I might cut it in half.  But if you love goat cheese, go for it. 

Asparagus-and-Potato Flatbread (print recipe)
Makes 2 flatbreads; 6 servings

All-purpose flour, for rolling
1 pound pizza dough, thawed if frozen, divided in half
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium Yukon Gold potato, peeled and thinly sliced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 bunch asparagus (1 pound), trimmed and shaved with a vegetable peeler
4 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled (1 cup)

1.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees, with racks in middle and lower thirds. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into two 6-by-16-inch ovals and transfer to two parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets. Brush each with 1 tablespoon oil. In a medium bowl, toss potato with 2 teaspoons oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange potatoes on dough, leaving a 1/4-inch border. Bake until edges of crusts are golden and potatoes are beginning to crisp around edges, about 12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.

2.  Meanwhile, toss asparagus with 2 teaspoons oil and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to 450 degrees, remove sheets from oven, and top flatbread with asparagus. Return sheets to oven and bake until asparagus is crisp-tender, 5 minutes. Top with cheese and bake until cheese is warmed through, 3 minutes. Drizzle each flatbread with 1 teaspoon oil, then cut into wedges to serve.

Recipe from Martha Stewart