Roasted beet borscht

I love the taste of beets, but I hate how they stain your hands (and everything else) when you peel them. Maybe that is why they are mostly sold already cooked in England.  One way to avoid this is roast them and then the skins slip off easily, but it also really enhances the flavour. I bought some beautiful looking beets the other day and wanted to make a big pot of borscht, to take for lunches at work. More a beet stew than a soup really as I cut the beets in to large chunks.

This made enough for 4 lunches for one or one lunch for 4

• 3 large beets
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 2 small potatoes
• 4 cups of beef broth
• 2 tablespoons of dried dill ( or a sprig of fresh)
• 1/2 white cabbage shredded
• Yogurt or sour cream to serve

Potato and beet top soup

Monday was not really a soup kind of day, finally the sun was shining and the temperatures were up to normal, but I had bag of beet tops that needed using, and I really did feel like soup.

I got them at the farmers market on Sunday, some attached to my beets and some that someone else did not want.  I love the flavor of beet tops and they are full of goodness.

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 small onion chopped
1 garlic clove crushed
tops off two bunches of beets chopped
2 medium potatoes
2 cups of stock (I used beef because that is what I had, but chicken would have been fine)
Salt and pepper