Simple Polish beetroot soup (barszcz)

Many moons ago, I was married to a Polish woman from a small town near Poznań. It was around the time that Poland joined the EU, and in those days when we visited her mother, although was geographically not very far away from London, it seemed we were stepping another world.

She was a wonderful cook and would feed us all the classic Polish dishes, taking great care to source the best local ingredients and prepare the meals to the highest standard. She wanted to impress me but also to remind her daughter that she may have been living abroad in a fancy new country but there were delights back home that were not to be forgotten.

My then-mother-in-law also told me in no uncertain terms that her recipes and cooking methods were authentic; traditional; handed down from generation to generation, and that what she served represented the best of Polish cuisine. I have since discovered that there are as many ways of making those dishes as there are stars in the sky, and that pretty much every Polish mother insists that their way, and only their way, is the true way.

What I am about to present is not her recipe for Polish beetroot soup, or barszcz. For starters, that requires that you make a stock from the chicken you roasted and ate the day before. My version is therefore, I suppose, the vegetarian take, but what it does retain is the simplicity of her approach and shows off new, in-season beetroot to its finest.

I also hesitate over another detail. I seem to remember that she removed the beetroot pieces once they were cooked, and served only the broth. Again, my recipe deviates from that, and shifts it from a simple starter into something much more substantial.

Ingredients

• 3–4 good-sized beetroots, peeled and chopped into large chunks
• Large handful of finely chopped fresh dill, or a generously heaped teaspoon of the dried version
• 3-4 allspice seeds
• 1 bay leaf
• 1-2 tsp good vegetable bouillon
• Salt and pepper to taste

Serves 4

Method

Put the beetroot chunks into a large, heavy bottomed saucepan. Add the dill, the bouillon, bay leaf and allspice seeds. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer until the beetroot is well cooked. Adjust the seasoning. Remove the allspice seeds and the bay leaf, then blend to a fine silky texture.

Serve with hunks of fresh bread or, if you really want to eat Polish style, with pierogi.

Enjoy!