Around the World in 80 Plates: Ukraine

You know those things that you've always heard about but never tasted and you think you aren't going to like them so you never try them? One of those for me was always Borscht. I was always curious about it but since my experience with beets had always been pickled when I was younger I thought "how could that make a yummy soup?" but again...I was wrong! This has been my experience since becoming vegan for so many things. The borscht I made is less traditional since it is usually made with beef or pork broth but it still features beetroot and other veggies that are found in recipes. The recipe I used is actually from The 30 Minute Vegan Taste of Europe and it did come together quite quickly. I started supper late and was worried about it taking a long time but it really was around 30 minutes once I did the 15 minutes or so of prepping. It is flavourful and warming like a good soup should be. My mom commented that it doesn't taste like beets but I got the earthiness of them in there. Like I said, we were both raised where pickled beets are on every supper table and I had never had them any other way until very recently. I made a homemade sour cream to served with it that was sort of an amalgam of different recipes I have tried. I quickly mixed homemade yogurt with Vegenaise, a splash of lemon juice and some fresh dill and put a small dollop in the borscht. It really added something too so I recommend it if you are trying this out.

I had thought ahead about supper a bit though since I also wanted to make Pampushki to serve alongside it. I knew right away that I was going to use Megan's Homemade Newfoundland White Bread recipe for the buns. I had been eyeing it since she posted it and now was the perfect time to try it. I followed all the directions in Megan's recipe up until the shaping where I just shaped it into small buns and placed them into a well greased 9" cake pan then I followed again to rise a second time just to the top of the pan and baked in a 400F oven for about 30 minutes. While they were baking I mixed up some olive oil, about six big cloves of minced garlic, a generous tablespoon of fresh dill and a touch of salt and pepper in a small bowl. When the buns came out of the oven I immediately brushed them with the garlic/dill oil and served them warm along with the borscht. They were so good! The bread was soft and moreish and the garlic and dill on top was perfect. Even my five year old loved it and was eating up that raw garlic like there was no tomorrow. My mom on the other hand scraped it off but loved the buns. And I literally had to tear Ryan away from the pan. This bread recipe is perfection Megan!! Thank you for sharing it!

Don't forget, there is still time to enter to win one of nine different cookbooks, including The 30 Minute Vegan Taste of Europe. Just head over to this post (http://threeandahalfvegans.blogspot.ca/2012/10/around-world-in-80-plates-finland.html) and leave a comment to enter before November 1st at 10am EST. It is open to anyone in the world!