Frederica's Colorful Soup (a.k.a. Borscht)
“Gray, gray, gray,” pouted Frederica the pixie cook. She was wandering through the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine, searching for ingredients for her next magical meal.
She looked up and saw gray sky. She looked over and saw gray mountains. She looked down and saw gray rocks. It was January, after all, but still. All this gray felt particularly cruel.
“This is ridiculous,” she decided. “Either I can sulk or I can do something about this gray. There must be color around here somewhere…”
Just then, a mountain goat appeared. “Meh-meh meh,” bleated the goat.
“Meh!” replied Frederica. “That’s exactly how I feel. Meh.”
“Excuse me,” said the goat. “I heard that you’re looking for color? I can help. We have all of the colors of the rainbow here, if you know where to look. And I do.”
So, off they went in search of the rainbow. Before long, they found a red apple, some orange carrots, a yellow onion and a green cabbage.
“Blue, indigo and violet…” mused Frederica. “Those are the colors we still need for our rainbow.”
The goat spotted some green and purple leaves and suggested Frederica pull on them. Frederica pulled, and pulled, and pulled… and then there it was! A beautiful purple beet popped out of the ground, shining brightly against the gray.
“Well that covers indigo and violet… they’re basically shades of purple anyway,” concluded Frederica. But what about blue?”
“I’m too hungry to think,” replied the goat. “Let’s eat something and then maybe the answer will come to us.”
So, Frederica whipped up a soup with the red apple, yellow potatoes, orange carrots, yellow onions, green cabbage, purple beets and, of course, a dash of pixie spice. The goat and Frederica feasted. After they were full of Rainbow Soup, they noticed the gray clouds had drifted away, revealing a bright blue sky.
“Look at the blue sky. Now we have the last color we need for our rainbow!” Frederica exclaimed.
“Everything is brighter after a good meal,” concluded the goat. They spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the beauty and color around them, pretending the January gray was far, far away.
*****
Recipe for Frederica’s Rainbow Soup (a.k.a. vegetarian borscht)
Time: 45 – 60 minutes / serves 8 people
Ingredients
The Rainbow
Red = 2 honey crisp (or other tart) apples; 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
Orange = 4 carrots
Yellow = 1 medium yellow onion; 2 lemons
Green = ½ head of cabbage; 3-4 celery sticks
Indigo and violet = 3 large beets or 5 medium beets
Pixie Spice: This ever-changing spice is different for every recipe. For Rainbow Soup you need: 1 bunch of fresh dill stems; three dried bay leaves; salt; pepper
You’ll also need: 2-3 cups of vegetable stock; 6 garlic cloves; 2 Tbs olive oil; a dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream and dill leaves to garnish each bowl.
Supplies
Knife and cutting board
A big pot
Box grater or food processor with grating function
Aluminum foil
Food processor or immersion blender
Wooden skewer
Before you start
Frederica’s tip: Use 1.5 cups of apple sauce instead of fresh apples – it helps thicken the soup and gives it a nice flavor. You can also substitute a purple cabbage and a purple onion if, like us, that’s what you have in your fridge!
Little cooks: Children can help make this recipe. Use our handy key to see which steps we recommend for different age groups. Always use your judgement on which steps your particular child helper can most safely help with and please remember to watch out for little fingers around knives and hot stoves.
* = 2 - 4 year-olds
** = 5 - 7 year-olds
***8 years old +
Recipe
** 1. Pre-heat your oven to 400 F.
* 2. Rinse the beets (no need to peel them). Cut off the tops and bottoms, wrap them in foil, and pop them into the oven. Set the timer for 25 minutes.
* 3. Rinse the rest of the vegetables. You don’t need to peel them.
* 4. Use a box grater to grate the carrots, apples (if using) and a medium onion.
** 5. Dice the potatoes, cabbage and celery into bite size chunks. Dice the stems of the dill. Pick the dill leaves and set aside for your garnish.
* 6. Make your Pixie Spice by mixing together the bay leaves, 2 big pinches of salt, some pepper, and the dill stems.
* 7. Put garlic cloves into a glass jar and shake it a few times to remove the peel.
** 8. In a large pot, heat olive oil to a medium heat. Add the garlic cloves, pixie spice, onions and celery. Cook on medium heat until soft (about 5-7 minutes). Remove the garlic cloves.
** 9. Add the cabbage, carrots and shredded apples (if using) to the pot. Cook for another 5-10 minutes until soft, stirring occasionally.
*** 10. After your timer goes off, check your beets by sticking a wooden skewer into the top of the foil. When they are softened but still firm, remove them from the oven, unwrap them, and let them cool a bit before dicing them.
* 11. Squeeze the juice of 1½ lemons onto the beets and stir. Let them sit for a couple of minutes.
** 12. Add the potatoes, the beets, the tomato paste and enough vegetable stock to cover the vegetables (about 2-3 cups). If you’re using apple sauce instead of apples, add it now.
** 13. Simmer until potatoes are cooked, stirring occasionally (10 -15 minutes).
*** 14. Remove half of the mixture and put it into a food processor or blender before pouring it back into the pot. You’re looking for a consistency where a spoon stands up in the soup.
*15. Taste and add salt and pepper as necessary. Add the juice of the remaining ½ lemon. The flavor should be sweet, sour and earthy.
**16. Scoop into bowls and garnish with a dollop of Greek yogurt and dill leaves. Enjoy!
Make it faster
Skip Step 2 by using pre-cooked beets (e.g. Love Beets) instead. But make sure you taste them as you may want to reduce the amount of lemon. And be sure to add the packaging liquid to the soup as well.
In Step 4, use the grate function on your food processor to grate the carrots, apples, onion and cabbage.
In Step 14, use an immersion blender to partially blend the soup in the pot.
Make it in your Instant Pot or pressure cooker. Complete steps 1-11 and then cook at high pressure for 3 minutes instead of Step 12.
Did you make this recipe?
How did it go? Did you make any changes? Do you have a photo to share? Let us know in the comments!
Do you have our book?
Catch That Cheese! is our first book featuring all three Cooks - Frederica, Fredsome and Fred-oh. They accidentally set a giant wheel of cheese loose on the city of Rome. Can they catch the cheese before it destroys Rome in a day? Buy the book and find out! A recipe for the authentic Roman pasta dish “Cacio e Pepe” is included in the book.
