This was made by contestant Larissa Sewell on Masterchef Australia 2023 and was the favourite dish in episode one . Beef stew with some beetroot.
Ingredients
- Beef Shortribs - 2-3 rib lengths - you can replace with 1kg chuck steak if you aren’t making your own stock - or omit meat completely for vegan borsch
- Beetroot - 2 medium
- Carrots - 4 medium
- Dutch cream or red potatoes - 4 medium
- Brown onions-3
- Celery - 2 sticks
- Fresh dill - large bunch
- Flat leaf parsley - small bunch
- Bay Leaves - 5 fresh or dried
- Half a fresh lemon
- Fresh garlic - 1 whole head
- Tomato paste - 2 heaped tablespoons
- Salt and pepper
- olive oil
Method
- Create your stock (you can skip this step if you’re using a very good quality store bought stock - you’ll need 3 liters of stock for this recipe and jump to step 5)
- To create stock, fill a large pot with 3L of water.
- Cut short rib off the bone, cut meat into chunks - removing any major sinew - season both bone and rib generously with salt and pepper - (the bones will be used for the stock and removed later - leaving the tender chunks of meat in the broth for the soup)
- Brown the short rib bones and chunks of beef - add celery sticks, 2 carrots, 1 quartered onion, 2 cloves of smashed garlic, a few springs of dill, small bunch of parsley and 3 of the bay leaves - simmer for minimum of 1 hour, or until the beef chunks are tender
- Once the stock is ready, you can either strain it into another pot, or just remove the bones and vegetables; leaving the tender chunks of beef. Add 2 fresh bay leaves.
- Shred or julienne the beetroot, and fry off in a 2 tablespoons of olive oil
Once the beets are mostly tender - add 2-3 heaped tablespoons of tomato paste and cook until dark, rich and aromatic (this may take another 5-10 mins on medium to low heat) - add 2 crushed garlic cloves, season with a generous pinch of salt and little pepper - Add beetroot mix into the soup stock
- Shred or julienne the carrots, and dice the onions
- In the same pan as the beetroot was cooked in, heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and fry the grated or julienned carrots and diced onions - the goal is to cook these long enough that they’re sweet and rich, without browning. Add 2 cloves of crushed garlic and continue to cook until lightly caramelised - season with a generous pinch of salt and a little pepper
- Add carrot mix to the stock base with the beef and beetroot and stir well
Peel + cut potatoes into thick batons - add to the soup and allow to simmer on low for 10-15 minutes, or until cooked through - Add a generous squeeze of lemon juice to the pot - taste for balance. You may find that you need to adjust the seasoning by adding more salt - and add some fresh pepper
- Finely chop fresh dill and generously sprinkle into the borsch
- Serve with sour cream, and dark rye bread slathered in cultured butter and maldon salt flakes
- Note: Borsch will always taste better the second (or third!) day, after the flavours have time to meld - so keep it in the fridge and enjoy for days to come