Polish Red Borscht Soup for Christmas Eve (Wigilijny Barszcz Czerwony)

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).

Step 2

Thoroughly scrub the vegetables (beetroots, carrots, parsley roots, mushrooms, leek). Peel the celery root and the onion, leave the rest of the vegetables (and a half an apple) in the peel. Chop the veggies into chunks.

Step 3

Grab a large roasting pan, pour a tablespoon of oil in. Toss all the mushrooms, veggies, herb sprigs and garlic together into the roasting pan.

Step 4

Roast in the middle of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, turning occasionally, until vegetables turn golden brown.

Step 5

Move the roasting pan onto the stove burner, over a medium heat. Add a few glugs of white wine to deglaze the pan (stirring and scraping up the brown bits for 2-3 minutes).

Step 6

Transfer everything into a cooking pot. Pour in 1 quart / 1 litre of water in, bring to a boil and reduce the heat to “low”.

Step 7

Add bay leaves, allspice & juniper berries, cloves, smoked prunes and dried wild mushrooms.

Step 8

Cover the pot with a lid (I’m leaving a small gap) and cook for at least an hour.

Step 9

Pour the stock through a large fine sieve into another pot (or a large bowl), firmly pressing on to push out as much stock as possible. Skim off the fat.

Step 10

The soup is supposed to be clear, therefore we won’t need the remaining vegetables. You can reuse them in another dish, but there won’t be much flavour left in them. I usually sneak out one or two of those ultra soft carrots and beetroot pieces before discarding the rest.

Step 11

Pour in 2 cups of beet kvass / zakwas into a large cooking pot. You can skip the fermented beets, but I add them in. Pour in 3 cups (¾ litre) of the stock we just cooked.

Step 12

Add in one teaspoon of dried marjoram and generously season with black pepper. Cook together on the lowest heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Have a taste - if it’s too strong, add a little bit more stock.

Step 13

Cook together for another 30 minutes on a very low heat, making sure the soup doesn’t boil at any point.

Step 14

Remove beetroots (if you added any with your beet zakwas), season with salt and pepper if necessary. If the flavour is too sour, add a little bit of sugar. You can use the remaining beetroot pieces as a garnish (optionally).

Step 15

Serve warm, on its own or with 'Uszka' dumplings.