Beet Soup

Last weekend at the farmer's market was beet season. We got decided to get both red and yellow verities. We also ended up coming home with a bag of greens as well, since the woman in front of us had them cut off her beets and the farmer did not want to throw them away. Those quickly become lunch paired with fresh eggs. I usually just roast or do a quick pickle on beets, but this time wanted to try something new. Soup was feeling nice so I went to my favorite cookbook and found two recipes, one for a borsht and the other for a chilled beet soup. Not surprising I did not have the full ingredient list for either of these, and funny enough one called for buttermilk, so I did a mix and match.

What I have in the fridge:
-Bunch of baby red beets and greens
-Bunch of baby yellow beets
-Onion
-Sweet Potato
-Apple
-Curry Powder
-Chobani
-Dill
-Whole Wheat Bread

 In the past I have had a major beet fail but not peeling them and in the end the dish ending up tasting like soil. I decided to tempt fate again and just peel the ones that look "soily" and leave the peel on the babies. Wondering if this will be my downfall, and if I should know better.

Left over scraps

Into a warmed stock pot go the onions, beets, sweet potato, heavy dash of salt and pepper and on a whim some curry powder. This is given about 10 minutes to roast up to develop more flavor since I realize I'm out of soup stock and stock like products that live in my fridge. Though most of the soups in the Mooswood Cookbook don't call for stock and I love everything in there.

Color

To the veggie curry powder mix goes about 5 cups of water and the heat gets turned down. On goes the cover and I cook it until all the beets and sweet potatoes are soft. As these are stewing I focus on the apple and beet greens. My mom makes an awesome squash soup for Thanksgiving that she puts apple in. Since my soup follows the same flavors I add an apple in the last few minutes of cooking to add a different level of sweet besides the beets.  I know that I'm going to blend this in the end so chop the greens now and will add them right before serving.

Finishing touches 

I use my once again amazing immersion blender (I can use it right in the pot. Never ceases to amaze me!) on the finished veggies. I'm surprised the soup is so red and the color of few baby reds dominated everything else in here.

I have some greek yogurt to use instead of sour cream, and to it add some dill I have drying. A bit of an ode to traditional beet flavors. Last night I purchased (on sale!) some whole wheat bread at the local health food store when I was there buying vitamins for P. The bread is amazing and I think we're hooked, it's the closest thing we have found to Manghi's in Montpelier, VT. 

Into the soup goes the greens and stems (hate to waste anything and I find them tasty) for a final 5 on the stove. The final verdict is that the soup does not taste like soil! I'm happy I added the curry, it makes it more complex. P claims the soup is too thick to be a borsht, (but was I even making borsht?) but eats it up anyway. This is a hearty soup, the greens add a much needed texture element and a splash of green in this sea of red. The dollop of yoghurt is key and makes it feel more finished. The toast rounds it out into a great light supper.

Supper!