“Grandparents are a special love for every kid. We all love our parents madly, but often, for our own good, they are way too demanding of us. And it’s at our grandparents where we can enjoy doing nothing and dreaming away. Every day at my grandmas we would have a delicious breakfast - with cocoa, pancakes or freshly baked pies. At lunch we would all get together at one table, because grandparents didn’t have to be at work all day long by then. At night, too, my grandma would always cook something incredible for us.
My grandma Fenya had survived the war times. While she was just a little girl she would run the whole household. At the age of 15 she was sent to timber cutting where she tried her first ‘foreign’ dish - turtle soup. They would catch them in waters and this helped them to survive the starvation.
After the war my grandma started to work as a cook and after a while all the city heads would only come to her for their dinner parties. She was running a big company with lots of employees. At home she always supported my first steps in gastronomy and she taught me everything she knew.
The recipe of borsch with crucian carps comes from her family. That was the way that her ancestors - Kuban Cossacs - would cook it. This recipe helped me win ‘The best borsch’ competition and later became on the best-sellers at the White Rabbit. I’m incredibly happy to know that my grandmother’s recipe will travel the world even further. I love her forever.”
Chef Vladimir Mukhin, Russia
Feeds 4
There are 3 components to this dish: fried crucian carp, borsch and sour cream. To make the borsch you make the vegetable liaison and the colourant individually and then combine with the chicken broth.
For the borsch vegetable liaison
Ingredients
600g beetroot, peeled and julienned
150g carrot, peeled and julienned
1 onion, sliced into crescents
1 tbsp table vinegar
Salt and sugar
250g tomato paste
2 bay leaves
Method
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil into a large pan and brown the onion.
Next add the carrot and a few minutes later the beetroot.
Then add the vinegar, so that the beetroot doesn’t lose the colour. Add a sprinkle of salt and sugar.
Add tomato paste and the bay leaves when the vegetables are half cooked.
Lower the heat, saute vegetables with tomato paste until ready, stirring from time to time. It’s ready when the vegetables are cooked but with a little crunch.
For the colourant (to give the borsch a rich colour)
Ingredients
Beetroot offcuts
2 tbsp table vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
Method
Put all the cuttings from the beetroot in a pan and just cover with hot water.
Add 1 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp vinegar and heat until JUST starting to boil.
Take off the heat immediately and let infuse in a covered pot for 20-30 minutes.
For the borsch
Ingredients
50g pickled cabbage (sauerkraut)
400g white cabbage, quartered with the stem cut away and then cut into thin strips about 5-6cm long
½ garlic clove, finely diced
2.5l chicken stock (or homemade chicken broth ideally)
100g sweet bell pepper, sprinkled with olive oil, baked at 180°C for 20 minutes and then peeled and cut into fine slices
35g pinto beans, soaked for 1 hour in cold water then boiled until soft
For the carp
4 fillets carp (ideally crucian)
Flour
Method - putting it all together
In a large frying pan, add a knob of butter and saute the pickled cabbage for a few minutes
Add the white cabbage and garlic and saute together for a few minutes
In another big pan, heat the chicken stock until boiling (if using broth, sieve it in)
Add fresh cabbage, boil until almost cooked
Add the vegetable liaison, bell pepper and beans
Lower the heat. Don’t boil so the colour doesn’t fade!
When ready add the colourant and salt and pepper to taste.
Now take the fish fillets, making sure there are no bones.
Cover with flour and a sprinkle of salt on the skin side and grill with olive oil to get crispy.
Put some borscht in a dish, a piece of crispy fish on top and serve with sour cream and fresh herbs (dill or parsley)