Ukrainian borscht soup

You should have already heard about my love for beets but this wonderful and satisfying soup makes it even bigger. Hailing from Ukraine and called borscht, it was an ultimate soup in my family when I was a child - my mom was preparing a huge pot of this purely red soup filled with beets almost every weekend. 

I don’t make this soup as frequently as my mom does but sometimes I find it the only one to be suitable for a cold day like this. The secret ingredient? Mushrooms! You don’t have to use a lot, but few caps of your favorite mushrooms make a difference in perfect beet borscht.
 

Serves: 6

Preparing time: about 1.5 hour

Ingredients 

• 300 grams beef tenderloin 
• 1 large onion, chopped 
• 4 large beets, chopped
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 2 potatoes, cut into cubes
• handful dried mushroom
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup creme fraishe
• Bay leaf
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a big pot, bring 4 cups of the broth to boil. 
2. Add your onion (chopped), beef and a bay leaf and simmer for an hour until your meat is tender.
3. Transfer your tenderloin from the broth and chop.
4. In the meanwhile, add your beets, carrots and potatoes to the broth and simmer until vegetables are tender (that should take about 30 minutes).
5. Add the meat with dried mushrooms and few spoons of vinegar and simmer for about 15 minutes.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

When serving, top your soup with a generous spoon of crème fraishe.