Instructions: Catering business specializing in ethnic foods.) Most of these are family recipes from Lithuanian friends. I think one is from an old church cookbook

a Lithuanian rendition of Borscht)

Scrub beets, place in 6 quart stock pot , cover with water or stock-water mixture and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until they just start to become tender.

Turn off the heat and remove the beets.

Peel beets. Julienne about 3/4s of the beets, and coarsely grate the remainder.

When cooking liquid in stock pot is cool enough to handle, strain through cheesecloth-lined colander (to remove any grit from the initial cooking)

into a larger - 8 quart) stock pot. Add grated and julienned beets, 2 cups of julienned cucumbers and 1/4 cup of chopped dill. Stir in vinegar, salt and pepper and return to boil. Simmer another 15 minutes and remove from heat.

When the soup has cooled for awhile - but is still warm - remove about a cup of the liquid, place in bowl with 1 pint of sour cream and mix until smooth, or place in food processor and process until you have a smooth mixture.

Return the sour cream-broth mixture to the soup, blend, turn into tureen and chill.

Serve family style with sautied dilled potatoes and onion

(Peel and cube 2 medium potatoes, dice a medium yellow onion, sauti in corn oil and butter until tender slightly brown - put onions in first and, when transparent, add potatoes. Add 1 tsp of vinegar for flavoring. When potatoes are tender and lightly browned, turn mixture into serving bowl with butter-oil-vinegar mixture from the pan, top with a liberal dose of finely chopped fresh dill and toss, making sure all the potatoes are coated with the juices and dill.)

Cold soup, warm potatoes and onions. . I believe the tradition is to spoon some of the potato-onion-dill mix into the soup - at least thats they way my friends family did it. Ive seen others, however, who eat the potato-onion mix separately so provide a plate for that purpose and let guests do as they choose.

If you would like to email yourself the recipe for later use, or share the recipe with your friends or family, enter the email addresses below and this recipe will be emailed to you and others as well.