Beetroot and Carrot Soup Recipe

Beetroot soup is a superb dinner party soup as the rich and vibrant colour has the wow factor, while it is has an earthy and sweet favour that will catch lots of people by surprise. This recipe is simplistic and can be put together relatively quickly.

Ingredients

4 Medium sized beetoots
4 carrots
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 small piece of root ginger, grated (1 teaspoon worth)
1 tsp of coriander powder
1 tsp of salt
150ml water
500ml chicken stock
knob of butter

Method

1. In a small amount of butter heat the chopped onion and garlic and grated ginger in a saucepan.
2. Peel and chop the beetoots and carrots and add them to the pan along with the water.
3. Simmer for 10 minutes until much of the water has gone.
4. Add the salt, coriander and then mix in with the chicken stock. Simmer again for at least 15 minutes.
5. Take off the heat and use a hand blender to make a thick soup.
6. You can return the soup to a heat to warm through, but it will throb and spit so don't leave it unattended.

This soup is naturally very sweet and mixing in some cream wouldn't spoil the soup if you wish.

Serve with warm crusty bread. Freshly made, or if not possible place a supermarket loaf in a warm oven for five minutes and slice and serve with the soup.

Click here for more Soup Recipes or for more beetroot ideas.

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How to roast beetroot

Beetroot has to be one of the most poorly perceived and misunderstood vegetables on earth. It hardly ever comes up on recipes, is rarely on menus and the only time people encounter it is when it has been drowned in vinegar.

This richly coloured root vegetable is however a joy to use as a side dish for roast dinners, while beetroot soups and chutneys are quite delicious.

There are 'rules' that need to be remembered when dealing with a beetroot, such as to leave the skin and undamaged when boiling it, but this recipe deal with simple roasting beetroot to provide an eye-catching side dish for a roast dinner - such as beef.

Ingredients 

4 medium sized beetroots (avoid large beets as they can be tough)
olive oil
dried thyme
salt and pepper

Method

You may find cooks adamant that beetroot should also be roasted with its skin on and then peeled once cooled, but I don't believe that this is necessary as the flavour is retained in this recipe.

1. Carefully peel the beetroot and then quarter each one
   
2. Mix together with enough olive oil to cover the beetroot pieces.
   
3. Add the thyme (roughly 2 heaped teaspoons, but I can't say I measure this) and a pinch of salt and some freshly cracked black pepper.
   
4. Mix the beetroot pieces so the herbs/salt/pepper are evenly distributed.
   
5. Place on a roasting tray and put in a pre-heated oven (200 degrees) for an hour.
   

The beetroot pieces do not ooze too much juice, even to though they've been peeled, but if you use the roasting tray to make a gravy to accompany the roast this will help aid the flavour.

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