To be honest...

I had no idea what Borscht was. Angie raved about it and how she loved the summer variation using beets.

So I had to look it up...

Turns out, it is a very common style of soup from Eastern Europe and Russia with a million variations. The recipe she included here is one of the more popular ones from Ukraine.

Traditionally, you'd use fermented sour beets with their fermenting juice in the recipe, but the variation below will be a bit sweeter and more universally enjoyed. If you wanted, check out this article I wrote about how to ferment your own beets (they are fantastic by themselves) -- consider using them in this recipe too!

Ingredients

5 medium fresh beets (about 2 pounds without tops)
salt
2 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
16 ounces sour cream (or full fat plain yogurt)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons Champagne vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 moderate-sized English cucumber, seeds removed (or the soup will be crunchy!)
1/2 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, plus extra for serving

Directions

Peel beets, chop roughly, and place in a large pot of boiling salted water and cook uncovered until the beets are tender, 30 to 40 minutes. (or use an InstaPot) Also, consider fermenting them instead.
Remove the beets to a bowl with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool.
Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve and also set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups of the beet cooking liquid, the chicken stock, sour cream, yogurt, lemon juice, vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt, and the pepper.
Cut the beets in small to medium dice or chop in a processor (cucumber can be chopped this way as well, and nothing is lost if they’re shredded finely in the processor either).
Add the beets, cucumber, scallions, and dill to the soup.
Cover and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. The flavors meld and taste better after a day or so in the fridge!