This week your basket contains: leeks, onions, beets, potatoes, celery, and salad mix (spinach, mustard, radicchio, endive, lettuce, arugula, French sorrel, and red cabbage)

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With beets in your basket this week (another great deal from an Oregon organic grower!) our minds go to borscht (we hope you have cabbage on hand).  This is one of the best versions we’ve come across.  

LILIIYA’S UKRAINIAN BORSCHT

1 pound of lean pork

8-10 cups of water

4 med chopped potatoes

half head of chopped cabbage

2 chopped beets

chopped fresh dill (about 1/4 cup)

1 medium onion

2 TB butter

4 medium finely chopped carrots

4 finely chopped tomatoes (canned or frozen)

In a pan, brown pork.  Add the browned pork to a large soup pot with water and boil for 15 minutes.  Add potatoes and boil another 10 min. Add cabbage, beets, and dill.  Boil another 20 min.  Meanwhile, in a separate pan, brown onion in butter.  Cook until golden. Add carrots to the onions and cook until tender. Add tomatoes and simmer slowly for 10-15 minutes.  Add the pan vegetables to the soup pot.  Add enough water to make the consistency of soup you enjoy.  Add salt to taste.  Cook until all the vegetables are soft.  Serve topped with sour cream sprinkled with chopped parsley.

This is a quick, tasty, and easy beet recipe.

5-MINUTE BEETS

1 pound beets

1 tablespoon butter

Salt and freshly milled pepper

Grate the beets into coarse shreds.  Melt the butter in a skillet, add the beets, and toss them with ½ teaspoon salt and pepper to taste.  Add ¼ cup water, then cover the pan and cook over medium heat until the beets are tender.  Remove the lid and raise the heat to boil off any excess water.  If you don’t mind the shocking color, serve with a dollop of yogurt on top.  (We think it is beautiful!)   From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Serves 4 to 6

The celery in your basket today was planted last fall in a hoop house a bit later than we usually plant it so it didn’t mature until recently.  The first thing I think of when we have celery is mirepoix.  Mirepoix is a mix of aromatics, made from finely diced vegetables (the mix of vegetables will often vary by country and cuisine) that are cooked in butter or oil, low and slow as to sweeten the ingredients rather than caramelize them. These slow-cooked aromatic vegetables form the first layer of flavor to many recipes. While a mirepoix may seem insignificant (or even pointless) it is one of the most essential steps in adding flavor to stews, soups, stocks, curries, stir-frys, etc. The aromatics in mirepoix include onions, carrots, and celery, with a traditional ratio being 2:1:1, or two parts onion, one part carrot, and one part celery.

MIREPOIX 

Trim the root ends and tips from the vegetables. Rinse and scrub the carrots and celery. Dry well. If desired, peel your carrots before chopping (tip- save your root ends and carrot peelings and stick them in a freezer-safe bag. Transfer to the freezer and save for homemade vegetable stock).  The size you choose to chop your onions, carrots, and celery will vary depending on the recipe being prepared. However, as a general guideline: for sautéed recipes, chop small (¼-inch to ½-inch), for soups and stews, medium size (½-inch to 1-inch), and for stock, broth, or blended soups, larger size (1-2 inches).  Cook vegetables over medium-low heat. Add the olive oil to a large skillet set over medium-low heat. Add the onions, carrots, and celery, mixing well to coat. Cook, stirring often, for 10-12 minutes, or until softened and onions are translucent. Adjust heat to prevent vegetables from browning.