Happy Fall! I hope your season is off to a great start. I’m excited to share my favorite fall lineup with you! This collection includes some tasty recipes, featuring my favorite Chicken Orzo Lemon Soup and a delicious Borscht Soup to kick things off. I hope you enjoy them—and don’t forget to share the love for Kouzounas Kitchen’s recipes!

Why borscht soup?

It’s hearty, healthy, and very tasty. If you love cabbage and beet then this soup is definitely for you.

Easy to follow recipe but the only time consuming part is grating or dicing the vegetables.

This recipe is by chef David and he really knows how to make the BEST borscht there is. I sure hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Borscht Soup Recipe 

Servings: 4-5

Ingredients :

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 1 leek, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons of red wine
• 6 cups of water
• 2 cans of “14.5” oz each of vegetable stock
• 1 lemon, reserve the juice
• 1 medium red or green cabbage cleaned and grated
• 3 medium beets, peeled, cleaned and diced
• 2 large carrots, grated
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup of fresh dill, chopped
• 1/2 cup of fresh parsley,  chopped
• Salt & pepper, to season
• A handful of fresh dill, leave them whole to serve on top
• To serve: fresh yogurt or sour cream

Method:

1. 1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large pot Add the onion, leeks, and garlic to the pan and saute until translucent. This will take about 4 to 5 minutes.
2. Add in the tomato paste and red wine. Stir to combine.
3. Add the water & stock over medium heat and stir.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients except the potatoes, chopped parsley and chopped dill.
5. Cook on medium heat covered until the vegetables are tender, season with salt and pepper. This should take about 35-40 minutes.
6. Add potatoes, chopped dill and parsley until the potatoes are tender.
7. Taste and season if you need to with more salt & pepper. Remove from the heat.
8. Serve warm with fresh yogurt or sour cream. Add the fresh sprig of dill and cracked pepper over the top.

Kali orexi! 

Notes: 

• Add the potatoes at the end because you don’t want them too soft or mushy.
• If you want more flavor, you can use chicken or beef stock but this will obviously make it non vegetarian friendly.
• Serve it with sour cream or yogurt.
• This soup is always better the next day when the flavors combined together.
• If you would like to add sweetness to the soup then add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar or honey to the broth while cooking.
• Add some heat to this soup by sprinkling in 1 teaspoon of dried chili flakes.