Spring Beet soup (Polish Botwina)

Name: Spring Beet soup (Polish Botwina)
Yield: 3
Cuisine: Fusion
Ingredients: duck; chicken wings; leeks; parsnips; juniper berries; allspice berries; salt; water; beets; potatoes; baby carrots; scallions, spring or green onions; dill weed; lovage; marjoram; bay leaves; lemon juice; brown sugar; cream; salt; black pepper; eggs

There are hundreds versions of this very Polish soup. Here you have an original proposition of mine. I used to cook it on the base of my favorite duck and chicken stock. The cream is a must to create wonderful pink color. Optionally you may add a quarter or a half of hard boiled egg to your bowl. By the way, I change my recipe sometimes, for instance by adding dried California prunes instead of sugar, or by adding some white vinegar instead of lemon juice.

Yield

3
servings

Prep

10
min

Cook

40
min

Ready

50
min

Ingredients

Amount	Measure	Ingredient	Features
for the stock
1	each	duck wing	*
2	each	chicken wings	*
50	grams	leeks green part or coarsely chopped green leaves
1	each	parsnips peeled	*
5	each	juniper berries crushed	*
2	each	allspice berries	*
½	teaspoon	salt
800	millilitres	water
For the soup
250	grams	beets spring beet inc. stems, leaves and very small roots
1	each	potatoes ca. 100 g, peeled, diced
1	each	baby carrots ca. 50 g, sliced
1	each	scallions, spring or green onions finely chopped inc. chives
½	cup	dill weed fresh, finely chopped	*
1	teaspoon	lovage dried, or 1 fresh sprig	*
1	teaspoon	marjoram dried, or 1 fresh sprig	*
1	each	bay leaves medium	*
1	teaspoon	lemon juice
2	teaspoons	brown sugar
6	teaspoons	cream 16% or 18%
1	x	salt	*
1	x	black pepper ground	*
1	each	eggs hard boiled, optionally

Ingredients

Amount	Measure	Ingredient	Features

for the stock
1	each	duck wing	*
2	each	chicken wings	*
50	grams	leeks green part or coarsely chopped green leaves
1	each	parsnips peeled	*
5	each	juniper berries crushed	*
2	each	allspice berries	*
2.5	ml	salt
800	millilitres	water

For the soup
250	grams	beets spring beet inc. stems, leaves and very small roots
1	each	potatoes ca. 100 g, peeled, diced
1	each	baby carrots ca. 50 g, sliced
1	each	scallions, spring or green onions finely chopped inc. chives
118	ml	dill weed fresh, finely chopped	*
5	ml	lovage dried, or 1 fresh sprig	*
5	ml	marjoram dried, or 1 fresh sprig	*
1	each	bay leaves medium	*
5	ml	lemon juice
10	ml	brown sugar
30	ml	cream 16% or 18%
1	x	salt	*
1	x	black pepper ground	*
1	each	eggs hard boiled, optionally

Directions

1 - Cook the stock in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes. 2 - Remove items, and skim fat. It is a good idea to prepare the stock a day before, then cool it, place it in the fridge, and remove fat from the surface next morning. 3 - Rinse spring beets, remove bad looking stems, cut off the oldest and yellowish leaves, gently scrape the beet roots. Chop the beet stems into 1 cm (half an inch) parts, chop the leaves, and slice the small roots finely. Prepare the rest of ingredients. 4 - Heat up the stock, add salt if needed, add potatoes, carrot, lovage, spring onion, bay leaf, and bring the stock to boil, then simmer for 5 minutes. 5 - Add roots, stems and leaves of beets, add dill, marjoram, sugar, and cook for the next 5 minutes. 6 - Stir in lemon juice, add salt and pepper to reach the optimal flavor. Have in mind the fact that the cream will soften the flavor of the soup. 7 - Add 2 teaspoon of cream to your bowl. Another option: you may stir in all the cream when soup is in the pot. When consuming the soup should have a nice pink color.