Intro

There are as many borscht recipes as there are Russians making them (and each one swears by their own). So when somebody tells you they are going to serve you borscht, you've no idea what you're going to get. Is it going to be meatless or with meat? Who's to say. Is it going to be red or green? Haven't a clue. It is going to have 4 ingredients or 20? What am I, a fortune cookie? Is it going to taste good at least? You might as well ask the pollster who's gonna win the presidency.

So when I come upon a borscht recipe written by an American (moreover, a red borscht recipe, which I generally don't like as I prefer the green version — I say "version", but there's nothing in common with the red kind except the name), let's just say I approach with trepidation.

Boy was I in for a surprise!

Sweetest Red Onion Borscht

Borscht with sides.

Reason for the sides being, that this is a meatless borscht. So I use the sides for protein. Another option is a dip of some kind. Frankly, I've yet to find the ideal sides for this, but traditionally it's often served with potatoes and boiled eggs.

This serves 4 people, and has a whopping 4 large red onions. (Don't worry, they are sweet as can be when cooked.) Red onions, to those unfamiliar with cooking, are sweeter than your regular ones. To my surprise, the recipe has just one beet.

The magical ingredient here is orange juice. You can use ruby port instead, but I found the (fresh) orange juice to give a better and sweeter taste. I also use olive oil instead of butter, and water instead of stock (yes, this makes the recipe even easier!) I definitely don't top it with chives or scallion greens: they just make the dish taste bitter.

And that's basically it! Traditionally borscht requires a lot of cutting and cooking, but this one is done in a jiffy! (That's an actual unit of measurement, equal to approximately 33.3564 picoseconds.)

And it tastes marvelous! My favorite use is to surprise Russians with it, who all laud the result.

Oh and let's not forget the mandatory dollop of smetana (sour cream, though don't be fooled by translations, this is as different to sour cream as sour cream is to yogurt) that goes into like almost every single Russian soup, it's almost up there with dill. You can use plain yogurt, but it won't be as good.

So that's it, this is definitely a keeper, I make it often, probably once every two months (that to me is often: so many dishes to be made).

@tikotiko's Melomakarona

Next up is another steemian's recipe that I made for Christmas! The recipe is here, and check my comment below that post for some further details on dosages. @tikotiko also forgot to add the sugar in the mixing step, though she included it in the ingredients step. I didn't use all-purpose flour cos I had some failures with it in the past. I used pastry flour instead (αλεύρι ζαχαροπλαστικής in Greek), and I kept adding flour till the dough wasn't sticking to my hands, which was about 250 extra grams I think (I made half the dose, so that's 250 added to 500).

I didn't much care for the result as soon as I was done making them, but on the second day and afterwards they were great! So give these dudes some time to meld their flavors!

Another thing is that there's really two traditions of melomakarona, as I've noticed: one is when they make the melomakarona as a slight variation of the kourabiedes. @tikotiko's recipe resolutely belongs in that tradition, and an independent taster noted the exact same thing while I wasn't there to influence them! (I often spread my creations around and receive input and joy!) I'm more of the "melomakarona is a totally different thing" tradition that is the principal tradition here in Cyprus as opposed to Greece.

A misgiving I have with these, which has to do with health, is that the amount of sugar in them is freaky! People are used now to the idea that an applepie or such will customarily require 3 cups of sugar, but if you look at our old traditions, that's not how people used to do it. They used to find other means to sweeten and flavor their food. After all, sugar wasn't always as cheap as it it now.

But for a recipe that many make only once a year, maybe we can make an exception!

Till next time, eat well and be merry!

The cookbook

Red Onion Borscht in How to Cook Everything: 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food, by Mark Bittman.

The post

Tikotiko Christmas sweets: Melomakarona! by @tikotiko

All pics by yours truly.

Past episodes:

5: Cookbook With Me #5 - Battling winter with Armenian yogurt sorrel soup + 2 Greek steemians' recipes!

4: Cookbook With Me #4 - My lovely date with a Prosciutto!

3: Cookbook With Me #3 - Something to Dip about

2: Cookbook With Me #2 - Evocative Almond Cake!

1: Cookbook With Me #1 - Surprisingly Good Pickled Okra!

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@alexander.alexis is a @greek-trail trailer and trailee