Confession time!!! I’ve never had borscht before. Not fresh. Not homemade. Not hot and not cold. I love beets, but borscht just never did it for me.
So it was funny when I was telling my dad about my assignment to come up with recipes using Gold’s Borscht that he admitted that he had been craving borscht and enjoyed it mixed with a bit of parve sour cream. Craving for borscht? Could I really be related to him?
Beet Farro Risotto with Goat Cheese
Anyways, he inspired me to start playing around with the possibilities. While my idea for a Borscht Popsicle didn’t really come together, I did discover a new way to make Farro Risotto that would make my dad proud.
Farro is healthier than Arborio rice and holds up very well to reheating and preparing ahead of time. This Farro Risotto recipe uses the borscht as the broth and is then topped with some goat cheese. The combination of red and white looks gorgeous and the dish combines sweet, salty and sour in a way that is very unique and approachable for people who think they’re afraid to try borscht. Honestly, I couldn’t get enough.
Beet Tzimmes
Thinking about all the sweet and salty flavor possibilities, I also recently tried a Beet Tzimmes. You will get tons of vitamins with this one. Using the Borcht broth to boil and flavor the sweet potatoes and carrots I discovered a new way to combine two traditional Jewish foods into one wonderful new dish, Borscht Belt goers would be proud of this one.
We are a family that loves farro, beets and cheese. The risotto recipe sounds like a winner for us.
Use borcht in place of broth – vegetable, tomato, meat, chicken or fish. Its sweet and makes everything either pink or red but otherwise it adds a great sweetness. Try it in Gazpacho, try mixing it with Quinoa, sip on it strained in a glass on a hot day or at the office when you need energy. Bring it to a kids game to give them energy. Bring some strained borcht to a low simmer and add dried cherries and allow it to reduce and serve the warm syrup over vanilla ice cream. Email me if you want more recipes at [email protected]