Beetroot Soup

Delicious, sweet and a glorious shade of purple, beetroot has to be one of my favourite vegetables.  Personally, I think the only real way to eat beetroot is either raw or to cook it from fresh: you can roast them in their skins with a little garlic and olive oil, or simmer them until tender, gently sliding off their skins once cooked to reveal a bright ruby sheen.  Or, if you have young and small beetroot you can grate them straight in to a salad.  There are so many ways to eat beetroot and yet the one I have paid the least attention to in my culinary travels is as a soup.  This may stem back to my childhood when my mum used to make the most beautiful Garden Soup, the likes of which contained, as you may have guessed by the name, whatever was most fresh and abundant in the garden at the time.  It was a glorious soup, made all the more delicious for that magic touch which some mum’s cooking always has.  However, on the very rare occasion, the experience was somewhat marred by the addition of a beetroot or two into the soup.  Perhaps they were a particularly earthy pick and a little ‘unwashed’ - my mum was a macrobiotic! – bit with their skins left on, they produced a flavour that can only be described as ‘soil’. Whole earth it was but delicious it wasn’t.  In the years since, I have avoided using beetroot in soup, until I came across this lovely, simple recipe.

Adapted from a recipe in Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights, this soup is a really wonderful and eye catching way to enjoy lunchtime!  Sweet and earthy (in a good way) it has a velvety texture and intense flavour, made all the better when served with some homemade rye soda bread or sourdough.  Just in case you needed a little extra persuasion to make it, it is worth knowing how utterly good for you beetroot really is.  The first clue is in the colour.  Like all vegetables and fruit, the brighter and richer the colour, the better for you it is.  The ruby purple of a beetroot contains lots of betacarotene and folic acid, helping both your heart stay healthy and also aiding your liver in cleansing your system of toxins.  Brilliant.

BEETROOT SOUP

Serves 4

6 – 7 medium sized whole beetroot

5 spring onions

2 tbsp olive oil

1½ litres/3 pints vegetable stock

The juice of ½ a lemon

3 tbsp oat cream, plus extra for serving

A shot of vodka, optional

Rinse the beetroot and cut away the leaves leaving about 1 inch of the stalks intact.  Place the beetroot in a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil.  Once boiling, reduce the heat and very gently simmer for 45 minutes or so, until the beetroot are tender.  Drain the beetroot and leave in the colander until cool enough to handle.  When ready, run the cold tap over the beetroot and gently slide off the skins – they should slip off easily.

Next, trim the spring onions so that you are left with only the white part of the onion.  Keep and finely slice a few of the very crisp, green stalks for use later, discard the rest and then finely chop the white spring onion.  Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, throw in the spring onions and sweat them over a low heat until translucent.  Pour over the vegetable stock and leave to simmer gently for five minutes.

Cut the cooked beetroot into chunks and add them to the onions and stock.  Using a blender or hand held processor blitz until the soup is smooth and velvety.  Add the lemon juice, oat cream, vodka (if using) and season, blitz again, check the seasoning and then pour into bowls.  Add a swirl of oat cream (about a teaspoon) to each bowl and sprinkle with the onion garnish before serving.

Comments

[InTolerant Chef]

I've been using beetroot this week too. The tinned pickled beets do a lot of damage to the noble beet. I'm glad there are some of us who can appreciate it in all it's glory. Without dirt!

[The Intolerant Gourmet]

Hi InTolerant Chef, I just love beetroot, it's such a pleasure to eat and sooo sweet. Pickling should be reserved for the pioneers or a serious glut of produce!

[Jane]

I really love beetroot and it is real soup weather today, perfect.

[The Intolerant Gourmet]

Hi Jane, thanks for commenting. I know, Autumn seems to be here already and a hot bowl of soup is just ideal.

[womenwhoweave]

This soup really packs in the flavour and with a smooth, velvety texture it really makes you want seconds! Delicious