Things I Love About Summer

If you could summer in a jar, my absolute favorite thing about summer is my soup recipe, with ingredients straight from the garden, it can not be beat! Try it out and see if you don't agree. It might seem a little complicated, because of all of the steps, but it is just a lot of chopping and dicing and nothing is too hard. Don't be freaked out by the title - it is not like the borscht that you have tasted that is just full of beets! This has a beet in it for color, but you fish it out and throw it away about halfway through the recipe. This soup is creamy and rich and chock full of good veggies! I have tried using the food processor to speed up the process (LOL) but it really made the ingredients too fine, almost like a big pot of baby food. Plus, there is something therapeutic about cutting all of the vegetables by hand and putting some "love" in the pot.

Cindy's Summer Borscht

In a large soup pot or stock pot, add the following ingredients and let simmer away :

1 quart canned tomatoes

1 onion, chopped finely

1 cup cream (I use whipping cream)

While that is cooking, peel about four large potatoes, do not cut them up fine, leave in large chunks so that you can fish them out of the soup later on.

Add to the pot:

the four large potatoes cut in big chunks

2 carrots, chopped

1 pint (2 cups) frozen or fresh peas

1 tbsp salt

Cover with boiling water and let it simmer away until the potatoes are cooked. While that is happening, crack a beer (LOL) and chop up the following:

5 stalks of celery, chopped up finely

1/2 head of cauliflower ,cut up finely

1 small head of green cabbage, cut up FINELY - no one likes big shreds of cabbage!

Fish out the big potatoes and mash them with salt and pepper, lots of butter and cream. They should be runny . Set aside. Add to the pot:

1 tbsp dried dill

the celery

the cauliflower

While that is simmering away, have another beer (you deserve it for slaving away over a hot soup pot) and fry 1/2 of the pile of cabbage and one onion, chopped in lots of butter. Watch this carefully, do NOT let the cabbage brown. You just want to sweat it and "almost" take it to the point of carmelization. ALMOST. If you cook it until it browns, it looks like there are "burnt bits" in the creamy soup.

When you are done frying the cabbage, finely chop and add to the pot:

1 green pepper, seeded

salt and dill to taste

Peel and dice four small potatoes and add to the soup:

raw pile of cabbage

fried cabbage/onion mixture

finely diced raw potatoes

Let that come to a boil once more. Turn off heat. Stir in mashed potato mixture. Cover the pot and let it sit, to fully cook the last vegetables. When you are ready to serve, bring the soup up to temperature. Taste for the last time and add salt and/or dill if necessary.

This sounds really complicated, but it isn't. It is just the best summer soup you will ever have! Enjoy!!