Recipe: Chilled Beet Borscht

I started making this in the early summer months a few years back. I loved it and slurped it down at my first taste. I called my mom, and told her of my newest recipe 'discovery'.

She giggled, "When I was pregnant with you, we were in Russia and my favorite meal was black bread and borscht."

How else can you explain the love of beets, pickles, dill, buttermilk and sour cream in one dish? It is a stretch. Corey watches me eating ladle-full after ladle-full and makes I've-thrown-up-a-little-in-my-mouth faces. Charming and a vision of maturity. But I am not shaken.

Here's a version of it; my recipe is straight from The New Moosewood Cookbook. Fresh farmers' market beets make a huge difference. They are in season right now.

Lucky for Corey, I had also churned some homemade strawberry ice cream the afternoon I made this batch of borscht. He didn't have to eat his beets first.