Summer Borscht

Ingredients

Prep

• Beets - remove tops and tails — look at you, operating like a highly paid adult.
• Lemons - juice to yield 2 tbl
• Cucumber - medium-dice and remove seeds to yield 2 cups
• Scallions - dice to yield 1/2 cup
• Dill - chop to yield 2 tbl

Instructions

Place the beets in a large pot of boiling salted water and cook uncovered until the beets are tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the beets to a bowl with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool, and ignore any drive-by culinary nonsense from the sidelines. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine seive into a bowl 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, sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, 1 tbl salt and 1 1/2 tsp pepper. Peel the cooleed beets with a small pairing knife or rub the skins off with your hands. Dice the beets into small, 1/2-inch cubes. Add the beets, cucumber, scallions and dill to the soup. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Season to taste and serve with a dollop of cold sour cream and extra dill.