The Nat-Bailey winter farmers market is back up and running in Vancouver just next to Queen Elizabeth park. I love this market. I feel like this is my favorite one. It feels right. Two weeks ago, on the opening weekend- there was SO much there it was amazing. A plethora of vegetables and colours. What really caught my attention and my eyes, though, were the beets. One of my favorite people that I always go to had big bags of assorted rainbow carrots and beets. So what did I do, I bought both of course! I also finally bought a bag of those delicious vegetable chips that I always think to buy but can’t give myself an excuse to buy chips. So I got them. Guess what happened to those bad boys? They didn’t even make it home.
Now now, stop that thinking. No, I didn’t eat them in the car. My wonderful, talented and piglet like dog, Oliver, decided that he was slightly peckish on the way home. I made a quick stop at Urban Source to grab some crafts for a Vision Board I was making and while I was gone for a good, short 5 minutes- Ollie managed to a) find the bag in the very back stuffed in a bag that was toppling over with vegetables (leeks, beets, carrots, chard, beet greens) b) rip open the plastic and c) eat the whole bag of chips. Might I add- I bought the large bag. You can bet that I wont be purchasing those chips again for a while (which is really just heart breaking because I was so excited to eat them and they are so delicious).
The beets though! They sat in my house for a week as I kept thinking to myself- I should make some borscht. I juiced a few of the beets, but the rest just sat, waiting to be transformed into a delicious, red, beet-y soup. So finally, last night- I made the jump, and made some borscht.
This recipe was inspired by one I found in the recipe book Holly Hock- which is a beautiful book filled with delicious dishes. Holly Hock is a retreat on Cortes Island that my mum has been to and highly recommends. Judging from the recipes- I also highly recommend it. Plus, you can’t go wrong with one of the islands!
- 5 cups of beets, chopped (leave skins on)
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves
- handful of fresh dill
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 3 bay leaves
- 1/2 large purple cabbage, shredded thinly
- 5-6 roma tomatoes, chopped OR 3 cups of chopped tomatoes
- 1 cup of your choice of beans: kidney beans, white kidney beans, chickpeas
- 7 cups of organic vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- In a large pot, saute the onion, garlic and bay leaves in the coconut/olive oil until the onions are translucent (be careful to not burn the garlic, try adding it after the onions have sauteed for 1 minute)
- Add the cubed beets and continue to sautee. They should cook for around 15-20 minutes or whenever they begin to get tender
- Add carrots, tomatoes and cabbage along with the vegetable stock & apple cider vinegar, mixing to get everything well accompanied
- Cover the soup and allow it to cook for 25 minutes
- Add the soaked, and rinsed kidney beans and allow it to cook another 20-30 minutes
- Season with himalayan/sea salt, cracked pepper and dill
