I have a craving for potato borscht (not beet based), or barring that, potato and dill soup. I want to make a big ol’ pot of it in my slow cooker, only problem is, no recipe.
Does anyone have a good one?
Hubby won’t eat onions, so I’ll have to leave them out, so if they are crucial to your recipe, don’t let me ruin it.
Thanks 
Recipe threads go in Cafe Society. I’ll move it for you.
Cajun Man - SDMB Moderator
First, take one New Husband…
(No ONIONS??? No onions in SOUP???)
Okay, keep the husband and try this, from Andre Simon’s Concise Encyclopedia of Gastronomy:
Simmer 4 or 5 peeled medium-sized Maine potatoes in a quart of milk, mixed with a little water, for at least an hour. Season well with pepper and salt. Mash the potatoes, add a tablespoon or two of butter and pour into the soup tureen over some little snippets of stale bread, toasted in butter.
He claims this is the “simplest, and best” potato soup. I’d add a handful of chopped fresh dill when I was putting in the salt and pepper, but don’t tell Andre.
Sounds a little TOO simple to me…I prefer a South American “Locro” when I feel like potato soup, but then, I like onions.
My favorite: more like potato-leek.
Start with equal parts fat and flour. I use olive oyl (spelling intentional), but butter will work nicely. Saute the flour until it’s just golden, you don’t want it brown. I usually saute some garlic in with this, and salt and pep.
Slowly add about a half cup of milk, bring up to temp. Then add chopped leeks and diced taters. Simmer for about 20 minutes but DO NOT BOIL. Boiling will ruin a cream or milk-based soup.
At this point, you could toss in some dill and be done with it. I add a pinch of cayenne to punch it up a bit, more salt and pep, plus whatever herbs I have fresh and handy. (I grow my own in the front yard. Thyme is nice in this as well.) Always add fresh herbs last thing, about five minutes before serving. Or else the essential oils boil off and you lose the flavor. I also add chopped portobello mushrooms to this. Then I’ll blend about half the soup because I like the added chunky texture, but also the smoothness of blended soups. Sometimes I also throw in fresh spinach – once blended, I then have green vichysoise (however you spell that).
You can omit the mushrooms, leeks, or spinach and still have a great, simple tater soup. If you omit all that stuff, serve with a nice shredded cheddar on top.
Mmmmm.
Poysyn Is your hubby’s complaint that he doesn’t like onions that he can see as did my kids when they were under 10, or does he really not like the taste of onion?
If the first, then just grate the onion fine and you’ll still get the taste.
samclem - The jury is still out on whether or not only visible onions are objectionable. The only problem is, if he finds one, he’ll never trust me again, and his onion-radar is pretty sensitive.
I find it easier to just leave it out, or, if I need to, use dehydrated onion.
My mother, German by birth made two types of borscht, the red (beet) you said you didn’t want and a green, spinach and potato version(no onions that I recall). Of the two I like the red better but if your interested I could call her and get the recipe.
Ennui - That would be great.
3tbl butter
3oz onion julienne (I prefer a sweet vadelia or walla walla)
1 large idao russet (thinly sliced)
1/2 cup white wine (sweeter vints are okay)
1/2 cup of flour (you can sub gleutin free flour)
4 cups water
1-1/2 cup pickle juice
2 large dill puckles (julienne)
2tbs dill weed (fresh)
1/2 cup whipping cream (French style)
2tbs poultry seasoning
Melt butter, sautee onion and add wine.
Reduce until almost all liquid is evaporated. Stir in flour, but do not brown just make a rue. Then combine water and pickle juice and cream and whisk over med heat. Add remaining ingredients and stir constantly over med heat. Do not allow cream to scortch. After 20 min test a potato slice, if it is done then so are you.
Salt and pepper to taste.
OK, I got my mother’s Green Borscht recipe. Now you need to understand my mother is one of those people who seldom measure anything, it’s all a pinch of this, a splash of that. She’s also the type of person who, while extremely good at what she does (in this case cooking) has a hard time explaining how she does things in a way that someone who doesn’t have a lot of understanding in the field could understand. If she was born a few years later, and in Redmond, she’d have been perfect for writing those Microsoft Knowledge Base articles.
Anyway, I have had success in the past in ferreting out recipes from her, and we both tried as hard as we could to generate accurate physical measurements over the phone. Now I’m sure this is the type of thing you’d need to try a time or two before you got it right. At any rate, I give you…
Mama Leokadia’s Green Borscht:
*Make in a 4 qt. Pot
1 Bag pre washed spinach
1 Lrg. Can Chicken Broth (36 oz.?)
Same amount of water
3-4 potatoes
¼ cup flour
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
Salt
In a 4 qt. Pot add broth and water. Add peeled and cubed potatoes. Boil till potatoes are soft. Chop spinach and add to pot. Boil for 5 more minutes. Lower heat to simmer. In seperat container, mix ¼ cup flour and about ½ cup water, beat till smoth, add to pot while stiring to avoid clumps. Beat 4 eggs well, add to pot again, stiring to avoid clumps.
Add lemon juice or vinager to taste. This soup should be slightly sour. If you can hit the “sour factor” on the nose, lemon juice is better, vinager has a better margin of error.
Salt to taste. Simmer five more minutes then turn off heat. Slowly stir in 1 cup sour cream and serve.
Wow. That’s interesting.
That’s frighteningly similar to my old bohunk Grandpa’s recipe for what he called Cabbage Soup…except it was really a potato-cabbage-dill soup with poached eggs in it.
Just substitute sliced cabbage for the spinach, and add fresh dill.
Oh, and onions, of course.
He also poached the eggs whole, one to a serving.