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This is one of the soups that we served regularly at the restaurant. Even people that don’t like beets like this soup. It is both basic and beautiful. Perfect for a midweek lunch or a special occasion. Ungarnished, this soup is vegan. I usually garnish it with creme fraiche, dill, and smoked salmon or smoked trout.
I learned a couple of tricks for making beet soup on a study abroad in Moscow when I was in college. The secret ingredients in this soup are ketchup, mustard, and vinegar. That’s right, ketchup, mustard, and vinegar. In essence, this is a pureed borsch. This soup is delicious both cold and hot. If you want, you can follow this recipe but skip the last step of pureeing for a heartier vegetarian borsch or add meat.
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Beautiful Beet Soup Recipe
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 3 quarts 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Boiling
- Cuisine: European
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This soup is both basic and beautiful. You can keep it vegan by garnishing it with herbs and diced beets or dress it up with creme fraiche and smoked salmon.
Ingredients
1/4 cup oil (or butter)
1 large onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
2.5 lbs Beets, roasted and peeled, diced
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and diced
9 cups of water
1 2/3 Tablespoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar
3/4 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
2 Tablespoons Ketchup
2 Bay Leaves
Dill Stems from one package/bunch (reserve the leaves for garnish)
Optional Garnishes: creme fraiche, dill, diced beets, smoked salmon or trout, chives, parsley, croutons, etc.
Instructions
Add the water, salt, pepper, vinegar, mustard, ketchup, bay leaves and dill stems. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and continue to cook on a low boil until the vegetables are tender. Depending on how large you diced them, this could take 15-40 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves. Puree the soup with an emersion blender or a stand blender.
Taste it and add salt and pepper if needed.
Garnish and serve.
Beet soup with garnishes.
Equipment
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| Lodge Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Double Dutch Oven With Loop Handles, 5 qt |
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| Mueller Austria Ultra-Stick 500 Watt 9-Speed Immersion Multi-Purpose Hand Blender |
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| Kitchen Aid 5 Speed Hand Blender |
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If you use a standing blender for pureeing this soup, blend it up in batches and be careful not to overfill. You don’t want a hot soup explosion.
Cost per serving: less than $2
Kara – I plan to try your Beautiful Beet Soup soon. Is it necessary to roast the beets first? If so, do you peel and cut up to roast?
Thanks! Dede
Hi Dede, I have made this soup without roasting the beets. If you want to skip roasting, peel the beets, chop them and add them in with the carrots and potato. To roast the beets, I toss them in olive oil with skin on, cover them with foil and roast at 400 F until tender. Then I peel them. Let me know how it turns out.