Whadda We Got That Spain Ain’t Got? Borscht!
It’s August and I keep thinking about cold gazpacho. I picture myself gulping it under the shade of a fig tree. But I’m stuck in New York City right now, and, at least down here below penthouse level, we don’t have many fig trees. And what’s worse this year: we don’t have tomatoes; there’s a tomato blight on. For once, rather than whining about what they’ve got that we ain’t got, I’m endeavoring to change my inner tune. Today, borscht is my song. This one goes out to my Spanish friends who do love beets, thank you very much, in their potato salad, and who have, after all, become suckers for foods with other-worldly looks, con un abrazo, desde Nueva York — toma ya, Ferrán:
Borscht
Serves 4
3 medium beets (250 gr.), roasted or steamed, cooled, and peeled
1 small red onion (100 gr.)
1 and 3/4 C cold water (400 ml.), plus a handful of ice cubes
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (un buen chorro)
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill (de guarnición)
1 C sour cream (crème fraiche, también de guarnición)
s&p
Place beets, onion, water, and ice in a blender (licuadora) and blend until smooth. Season with lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste. Serve in bowls, topped with a spoonful of sour cream and a scattering of dill.
(Some people doll it up with halves of hard boiled egg and peeled, steamed, chilled new potatoes, and an additional sprinkling of minced red onion. Not me.)
“Borscht is my song.” That got me thinking, is there a song about borscht? A little web search and I struck gold (and I don’t mean Gold’s Russian-style bottled borscht, which isn’t bad, really). Did you know that Woody Guthrie lived in Coney Island in the 1940s and wrote a song called “Mermaid Avenue”? You could look it up. A few of the lyrics:
Mermaid Avenue that’s the street
Where the lox and bagels meet,
Where the hot dog meets the mustard
Where the sour meets the sweet.
Mermaid Avenue that’s the street
Where all colors of goodfolks meet;
Where the smokefish meets the pretzel
Where the borscht sounds like the sea.
I don’t know what this song sounds like, but it has been recorded by the Klezmatics on an album called “Wonder Wheel.” I think we need it.