Ukrainian Borscht with Garlic Pampushky

Rinse 455 g beef (sirloin, stew meat or bone-in shank) under cold water and put it in a large soup pot with 3.31 l cold water and 15 ml salt. Bring to a boil over high heat.

As soon as it boils, skim off all the grey foam that gathers on top. Do it now: if you wait, the foam breaks up into the broth and clouds it.

Lower the heat, set the lid ajar and simmer gently for 45 min to 1 h, skimming now and then. Get the beets and the vegetables ready meanwhile.

Put 3 beets in a large heavy skillet with 59 ml olive oil and 15 ml white vinegar. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring, for 5 min.

Turn the heat to medium-low, stir in 15 ml sugar and 30 ml tomato paste or tomato sauce and keep cooking, stirring from time to time, until the beets begin to soften, about 10 min. Scrape them into a bowl.

Without washing the skillet, melt 15 ml unsalted butter and cook 1 onion for 2 min. Add 2 carrots and cook about 5 min more until soft, adding a splash of oil if the pan looks dry.

Once the beef has simmered at least 45 min, add 3 potatoes to the pot and cook 10 min.

Add ½ head small head of cabbage, the fried beets, the onion and carrot and 2 tomatoes. Simmer about 10 min.

Add 2 leaves bay leaves, 1 ml black pepper and 2.5 ml salt, then taste and adjust the salt. It should taste rounded: sweet from the beets, gently sour, well salted.

Stir in 59 ml fresh parsley and 2 cloves garlic, put the lid on straight away and take the pot off the heat. Leave it covered for 20 min.

Ladle into bowls and top each with a spoonful of sour cream (smetana), to serve and fresh dill or parsley sprigs, to serve. Serve with the warm pampushky.

Whisk 235 ml lukewarm whole milk, 10 ml sugar and 7.5 ml active dry yeast in a large bowl and leave until foamy, 10 min to 15 min.

Add 1 egg, 44 ml sunflower oil, plus more for greasing, 710 ml all-purpose flour and 5 ml salt. Mix, then knead by hand for a few minutes.

Oil the bowl, return the dough, cover with a towel and leave in a warm spot for about 1 h.

Oil two 23 cm (9 in) baking dishes. Divide the dough into sixteen equal pieces, roll each into a tight ball and set eight in each dish with a little space between them. Cover and leave for about 30 min.

Heat the oven to 175 °C. Beat 1 egg, for brushing, brush it over the rolls and bake 30 min to 35 min.

While they bake, stir together 30 ml sunflower oil, 3 cloves garlic and 44 ml fresh dill.

Turn the hot rolls out of the dishes, brush them all over with the garlic oil and sprinkle with 5 ml coarse salt. Cool a little on a rack and serve the same day.