Joan’s Cold Beet Borscht

Recipe by: Leslie Brenner

This is the beet borscht I grew up with. It is my mother’s recipe, served cold or room temperature — the style enjoyed by the diaspora of Ashkenazi Jews from Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Poland, Lithuania and throughout the Baltic. Consisting of nothing more than beets (roots and greens) water, lemon juice, salt and sugar, it is vegetarian. At the table, sour cream is stirred into each bowl to taste; skip that, and it’s vegan. Hot boiled red potatoes and a bowl of diced radish, cucumber and sliced scallion are passed at the table for garnish. It may sound basic — and it is. But it happens to be extraordinarily delicious.

I like to buy bunches of beets with their greens for this recipe, which uses roots, along with a few leaves; two healthy bunches of medium-sized beets (about 3 inches / 7.6 cm diameter) is usually the right amount. If you can only find beets without greens, here’s a hack: Pick up a…