CATEGORY |
CUISINE |
TAG |
YIELD |
Meats, Dairy |
Lithuanian |
|
1 |
Servings |
INGREDIENTS
3 |
lb |
Beets |
3 |
qt |
Water (or 1 1/2 quarts water 1 1/2 quarts defatted chicken stock) |
2 |
c |
Cucumber (peeled and julienned) |
1/4 |
c |
Fresh dill, chopped fine |
1/4 |
c |
Distilled white vinegar |
1/2 |
ts |
Salt (or to taste) |
1/8 |
ts |
Fresh ground black pepper (up to 1/4) |
2 |
c |
Sour cream |
INSTRUCTIONS
Here are four traditional Lithuanian recipes from my files. ( I run a small
catering business specializing in ethnic foods.) Most of these are family
recipes from Lithuanian friends. I think one is from an old church cookbook
from a church that is predominantly Lithuanian.
~- a Lithuanian rendition of Borscht)
Scrub beets, place in 6 quart stock pot , cover with water or stock-water
mixture and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until they just
start to become tender.
Turn off the heat and remove the beets.
Peel beets. Julienne about 3/4s of the beets, and coarsely grate the
remainder.
When cooking liquid in stock pot is cool enough to handle, strain through
cheesecloth-lined colander (to remove any grit from the initial cooking)
into a larger -- 8 quart) stock pot. Add grated and julienned beets, 2 cups
of julienned cucumbers and 1/4 cup of chopped dill. Stir in vinegar, salt
and pepper and return to boil. Simmer another 15 minutes and remove from
heat.
When the soup has cooled for awhile -- but is still warm -- remove about a
cup of the liquid, place in bowl with 1 pint of sour cream and mix until
smooth, or place in food processor and process until you have a smooth
mixture.
Return the sour cream-broth mixture to the soup, blend, turn into tureen
and chill.
Serve family style with sautied dilled potatoes and onion
(Peel and cube 2 medium potatoes, dice a medium yellow onion, sauti in corn
oil and butter until tender slightly brown -- put onions in first and, when
transparent, add potatoes. Add 1 tsp of vinegar for flavoring. When
potatoes are tender and lightly browned, turn mixture into serving bowl
with butter-oil-vinegar mixture from the pan, top with a liberal dose of
finely chopped fresh dill and toss, making sure all the potatoes are coated
with the juices and dill.)
Cold soup, warm potatoes and onions. . I believe the tradition is to spoon
some of the potato-onion-dill mix into the soup -- at least that's they way
my friend's family did it. I've seen others, however, who eat the
potato-onion mix separately so provide a plate for that purpose and let
guests do as they choose.
Posted to Recipe Archive - 15 Sep 96
submitted by: Grayjackl@aol.com
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