barszcz is my muse (original) (raw)

you find me lounged lazily on a velvet chaise longue, my eyes tracing your every step and move hungrily. my white chemise is torn open and stained; my lips are stained red, and my chin, and neck - my fingertips even. i’ve been eating beets

jul-likes-magpies asked:

For the beet anon, i have a very wimple very delicious recipe:

Take one beet and one carrot, wash +peel them and grate them both on the larger round holes of the grater. Mix em up in a bowl, throw some salt on it, squeeze half a lemon (or more if you so like) on it, and then some sunflower oil or oil of your choice (i would say sunflower and olive are good though the flavour profile is gonna be different, sesame oil also goes but it’s very strongly flavoured so careful there. If you have at hand walnut oil could be amazing but honestly plain sunflower oil is your best bet) and voila! You have yourself a delicious easy salad.

Note: the beets stain A LOT so for the grating, choose a garment you won’t mind getting stained

bookwormywriter asked:

For those of us just venturing into culinary exploration (me), is there a food you could compare beets to in flavour or texture? I want to try them so badly but have serious food aversions and am scared of wasting money or food.

Anonymous asked:

Do you have any advice for someone who's never had beats before to prepare them? :)

slavicafire answered:

oh my! oh my! ‘tis beet time.

so many options! it really depends on what you like… and whether you like beets to begin with, too. so it might be a good option to buy something beet-y in a store to check if you like the taste, as it is quite peculiar: some sort of beet soup. grated-beets-in-a-jar, beet smoothies or juices, or just simply plain boiled beets to check out on their own.

but I think we all agree that soup… soup is the way. there are as many ways to make barszcz as there are slavic grandmas but there are two main types: let us say, heathens as we are, Polish-type barszcz and Ukrainian type barszcz. watch me getting killed in the comments for this simplified distinction.

Polish type of barszcz is just… plain soup. red beet water. you can add uszka (or even an egg, if you do not fear death nor judgement) or have it as a side for some krokiety.

Ukrainian type borscht looks at our plain water and laughs. it laughs for so long it starts to sound like wolves howling. but it’s good. it’s different! but it’s good. hearty. makes you strong. you should try both because both are The Essence of Beet but also very different experiences.

I would love to send you some more detailed recipes should you be interested in anything in particular! whether you prefer soups or cold/warm dishes… let me know!

also, of course! botwinka - a very slavic soup made from young beet leaves and cream. essentially a may-early june classic and the epitome of a spring blessing.

sweet and pleasant, much less root taste than barszcz - so if you find beetroot itself a bit too strong as a flavour, try the leaf-soup. beet soups are also great as cold soups, especially in summer!