Recipe - Saltibarsciai (Cold Beet Soup)

3 pound Beets
3 qt Water (or 1 One half quarts water
1 One half quarts defatted
chicken stock)
2 cup Cucumber (peeled and
julienned)
One fourth cup Fresh dill, chopped fine
One fourth cup Distilled white vinegar
One half teaspoon Salt (or to taste)
1/8 teaspoon Fresh ground black pepper
(up to 1/4)
2 cup Sour cream

Here are four traditional Lithuanian recipes from my files. ( I run a small
catering business specializing in ethnic foods.) Most of these are family
recipes from Lithuanian friends. I think one is from an old church cookbook
from a church that is predominantly Lithuanian.

~ a Lithuanian rendition of Borscht)

Scrub beets, place in 6 quart stock pot , cover with water or stockwater
mixture and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until they just
start to become tender.

Turn off the heat and remove the beets.

Peel beets. Julienne about 3/4s of the beets, and coarsely grate the
remainder.

When cooking liquid in stock pot is cool enough to handle, strain through
cheeseclothlined colander (to remove any grit from the initial cooking)
into a larger 8 quart) stock pot. Add grated and julienned beets, 2 cups
of julienned cucumbers and One fourth cup of chopped dill. Stir in vinegar, salt
and pepper and return to boil. Simmer another 15 minutes and remove from
heat.

When the soup has cooled for awhile but is still warm remove about a
cup of the liquid, place in bowl with 1 pint of sour cream and mix until
smooth, or place in food processor and process until you have a smooth
mixture.

Return the sour creambroth mixture to the soup, blend, turn into tureen
and chill.

Serve family style with sautied dilled potatoes and onion

(Peel and cube 2 medium potatoes, dice a medium yellow onion, sauti in corn
oil and butter until tender slightly brown put onions in first and, when
transparent, add potatoes. Add 1 tsp of vinegar for flavoring. When
potatoes are tender and lightly browned, turn mixture into serving bowl
with butteroilvinegar mixture from the pan, top with a liberal dose of
finely chopped fresh dill and toss, making sure all the potatoes are coated
with the juices and dill.)

Cold soup, warm potatoes and onions. . I believe the tradition is to spoon
some of the potatooniondill mix into the soup at least that's they way
my friend's family did it. I've seen others, however, who eat the
potatoonion mix separately so provide a plate for that purpose and let
guests do as they choose.

Posted to Recipe Archive 15 Sep 96

submitted by: Grayjackl@aol.com