From Chef Oonagh Williams of Gluten-Free Cooking with Oonagh

I gave Lithuanian cooking classes demos for about 10 years at our local ethnic library and spent July 2005 in a Lithuanian language course at the University of Vilnius, capital of Lithuania. And no, I am not of Lithuanian descent, but I was given so many old and new Lithuanian cookbooks, tried the recipes, made them for class and was told they brought back memories of grandmother making them. This particular recipe is a mix of two cold beet soup recipes. One is taken from the Lithuanian Heritage magazine and the other is from ‘Treasures of Lithuanian Cooking.’ The recipes are almost identical as to ingredients. Now I give talks with vibrant photos of Lithuania with history, culture, and a gluten-free Lithuanian buffet to libraries, clubs etc.

Chilled Beet Soup

Makes about 12 half-cup servings

Ingredients:

• About 1 lb raw beets, cooked, peeled, and shredded in food processor
• Half a European cucumber, peeled, quartered lengthwise and finely diced
• 2 eggs, hard boiled, peeled and finely diced – optional
• 4 green onions, leaves only finely scissored
• 2 c buttermilk (I buy Kate’s of Maine that is genuine buttermilk, labeled gluten-free, not from a culture)
• 1 c cold water or beef broth
• ¼ tsp sugar or honey or more to taste once chilled
• salt and pepper
• ¼ c sour cream (or more)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill – dill is a strong flavor, so don’t add too much at first

Directions:

1.Mix all the ingredients together and chill for 1-2 hours or overnight. The flavor does improve on chilling as everything melds together.

2. Taste after chilling and add more salt, pepper or herbs to taste.

Traditionally this soup is served with a dollop of sour cream (100% of course – Friendship brand is most authentic) in the middle of each bowl and an individual plate of slices of hot, plain boiled potato. You take a spoonful of hot potato from the plate and dip the spoon into the cold soup so you get the contrast of hot and cold in each mouthful. It tastes really good this way.