Borscht and Macaroon Recipes

With the two dishes I made for the passover, while I followed recipes, I also did a fair amount of improvising. I made a test batch of the macaroons the weekend before we got together, and they turned out a bit too sweet for my liking. They also didn't stay together as well as I would have liked. So, the night I made them for y'all, I altered the recipe just a bit. IT went something like this:



About 2 egg whites
1 entire bag of shredded coconut (roughly 2.5 cups)
4-5 tables spoons of flour
3-4 table spoons of sugar
A pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Mix the dry goods together thoroughly, sugar included. Whisk the eggs till they become light in color and texture. Mix both the wet and dry ingredients together. Form the macaroons and place them on a well greased baking sheet. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until they become brown around the edges.

You can add more or less sugar to the recipe depending on how sweet you like your macaroons. I personally enjoyed them a little less sweet, with the whipped cream Eli made.



Borscht is an interesting dish, in that I am pretty sure you can make it however you want, so long as it's served cold and contains a shit-ton of beets. I made it the way my mom makes it, with whole slices of beets in the broth, but it is also common (maybe more common) to find the beets shredded. Anyway, here is how my borscht making went down:

6-8 medium sized beets
1 large onion
1/4 cup of lemon juice
3-4 table spoons of brown sugar (Used light, but dark would be tasty I'm sure)
4 cups of water

Cut the stems completely from the beets. If you like, you can include them in the soup later. I chose not to. Clean the beets well, scrubbing them with your hands. Place the beets in a large pot, and completely cover them in water. Boil them for about 15 minutes, or until they are close to being completely cooked (you should be able to poke one with a knife with little resistance). While the beets are cooking, prepare the remainder of the ingredients. Prepare the onion however you like. I elected to thinly julienne them, a task made more enjoyable by my new knife (thank you again Simon and Peter). You can also cut the stems and leaves of the beets now, should you want to include them int he soup. Once the beet are done boiling remove them from the pot,saving the water, and slide of their skins. This is fairly effortless at this point. Slice the beet however you would like. Again, I elected to slice them into roughly 1 centimeter thick discs and half discs, but whatever works. Add your 4 cups of water to the beet broth you have made. Also add your beets, onions, brown sugar, and lemon juice. Bring this mixture to a boil and immediately reduce to a low boil/simmer. Cook another 20 minutes, or until the onions and other vegetables, should you choose to add them, are cooked through. Add salt to taste.

Chill before serving, and garnish. There are many garnishes that are traditional when it comes to borscht. The most popular being hard boiled eggs and sour cream.

Word, now its everyone else's turn.