Beet Consommé Recipes

BEET BORSCHT

Steps:

• In a saucepan, bring the beets, carrots, onion, water and salt to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add broth, cabbage and butter; simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Just before serving, stir in lemon juice. If desired, top each serving with sour cream and chives or dill.

BORSCHT RECIPE (BEET SOUP)

Steps:

• Add olive oil to a soup pot and set over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot add in the beets, carrots, potatoes, and cabbage. Stir to combine.
• Cook for 10 minutes to slightly soften the vegetables.
• Add in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
• Pour in the beef and the vegetable broth and add the bay leaf. Simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the beets and carrots are tender.
• Discard bay leaf. Stir in the fresh dill, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Taste and season with the desired amount of kosher salt and black pepper.
• Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top.

COLD BORSCHT

Steps:

• Using a food processor, pulse beets until finely chopped. Transfer to a large saucepan and add onion, salt and 2 1/2 quarts (10 cups) water. Place over high heat to bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until onion is tender, about 40 minutes. Add sugar and lemon juice, and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Remove onion and discard. Pour soup into a heatproof container and allow to cool to room temperature. Adjust salt, sugar and lemon juice to taste. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve chilled, with chilled boiled potatoes added to soup, if desired. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt.

BEEF CONSOMMé

Steps:

• Prepare clarification mixture Pulse chopped onion, carrot, and celery in a food processor or mini-chopper until finely chopped. Whisk egg whites until frothy, then add ground beef and chopped vegetables and mix well with your hands. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (or overnight).
• Make onion brûlé Sear the remaining onion wedge in a small cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat on both cut sides until blackened, then coarsely chop.
• Clarify stock Pour stock into a stockpot. Remove the clarification mixture from the refrigerator and add the browned onion and the tomato, then add this mixture to the pot. Set over medium-high heat and whisk briskly until thoroughly incorporated with the stock. Use a wooden spoon to stir at a slower speed until the solids rise to the top, then stop stirring. Continue cooking until frothy bubbles start to form around the sides of the raft. Reduce heat to medium-low and use a spoon or a ladle to make a hole in the raft so the consommé can bubble freely, and you can see the color and clarity of the broth. At this point the broth should be clear; further simmering is to develop more flavor.
• Remove raft and strain consommé Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the raft starts to sink a bit. Ladle the consommé from the pot through the hole in the raft (or you can crack it at this point, since it has solidified) into a cheesecloth-lined sieve set over a heatproof container. Discard the raft. Then strain broth again, this time through a coffee filter. Remove fat by sweeping a paper towel across top of consommé several times. Reheat if necessary. Season with salt and garnish as desired. If not serving immediately, allow consommé to cool and then refrigerate overnight in an airtight container. Before using, remove and discard solidified fat that has accumulated at the top and reheat consommé over gentle heat, just until hot.
• Follow the directions above for beef consommé, substituting ground chicken and chicken stock for the ground beef and beef stock.
• Use only coarse salt to season consommé; iodized (table) salt will cause it to turn cloudy.
• The clarification mixture should be kept as cold as possible until needed (always add tomato, or other acidic ingredient, just before using, since it will cause the egg whites to coagulate too soon).
• Monitor the temperature of the consommé as it cooks to make sure it is at a gentle simmer.