SC - my russian inn- a success

[Michael P Newton]

well, winter challenge has come and gone and my inn was quite well
received (the feast is another story, and so another post). I ended up
serving a borscht that was a clear soup, what a lovely red!, and three
types of turnovers- pork and vegetable (the most popular), cheese (which
was a little on the salty side, being a combo of feta and farmer's
cheese) and walnuts. For drinks, I served margaret's grape juice and
vinegar concoction previously posted on this list, and coffee (I know, I
know, <sigh>). My main problem is that I didn't make enough turnovers; if
I had known in advance how popular they were going to be I would have
made a lot more than 25 of each. The borsch was raved over by those brave
enough to try it, but it was a nice sunny day here in Oakheart (that's
Springfield, MO, for whoever wanted to know where we were all at) and not
a lot of people were interested in soup (now if we had a blizzard....)

the recipes all came from Festive Ukrainian Feasts, and are traditional
rather than period; although I did double check in the Domostroi to see
if they were at least period-oid.

Meatless Beet Soup
(Pisnyi borsch)
2 lbs beets
1 carrot
1 parsnip
1 turnip
2 celery ribs
2 medium onions
1 bay leaf
3-4 peppercorns
3 dried boletus or 1/2 lbs chopped mushrooms
1 quart of beet Kvas or 1 teaspoon sour salt (crystallized citric acid)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
2 tsp fresh chopped dill
Soak boletus overnight. Cook in a little water until tender. [I used the
button mushrooms so I skipped this step] Scrub beets and cut into
quarters. Cover with water and cook over low heat until tender, about 1
to 2 hours. Cool and pour off liquid [save this, you'll need it later].
slip off peels. [the fun part!] This may be done a day in advance. 
Peel and cut up the other vegetables. Add bay leaf, peppercorns and
mushrooms to vegetables, with enough water to cover and cook in a large
non-aluminum pot over low heat until tender. Strain beet liquid into
vegetables. Shred beets and add. Simmer for about 10 minutes and strain
into a large pot. To keep broth clear, do not press the vegetables.[I
did, it wasn't, oh well]Add souring agent, mushroom liquid [if you did
the first step] pepper, and salt. Bring to a gentle boil then turn heat
low. Taste; the flavor should be tart, mellow, and full. For more
tartness[you should need this, to me, it was plenty tart - but then
growing up in the midwest may have something to do with that], add fresh
lemon juice or sour salt. Keeps well in refrigerator. Reheat gently; do
not overcook or the color will turn brown. Garnish with chopped dill.

Since this is getting long, I'll give the turnover recipes in another
post.

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