Beet Soup or Borsch

Here is a gorgeous red soup that tastes good, is low fat and low calorie and all that good stuff. I like it's red color for the holidays but it would also work very well  for Valentine's Day.  I had beets in my fall garden and pulled the last of them around Thanksgiving.  I trimmed the tops and the root, washed them and stored them  in my refrigerator's vegetable bin. They keep very well.

I love beets roasted, so I wrapped half a dozen of them in a package of aluminum foil (two sheets) and roasted them in a 400 degree oven for about half an hour or until they were tender. They cooled in the foil and then were easy to peel.

Easy Beet Soup

Most of the beet soup recipes I've read call for beets, carrots, celery, onion, parsnips, tomatoes and cabbage. I decided I could do without the cabbage. Likewise I didn't see the point of tomatoes, though I suppose it was there for the acid.  I think of beets as a fall root crop, the same as carrots, onions and parsnips so I opted for mostly root vegetables in the soup. The exception was celery. I begin most soup recipes with  my trinity of carrots, onions and celery so was pretty sure that would be the best base. Also, I had my own homemade beef broth which is very yummy and nothing like the little salty cubes of beef bullion (yuk!). Good "stock in a box beef broth (the one in the red box)  should work well. So here's my version of the soup and I hope you like it.

6 medium sized beets, roasted, skinned and sliced or diced.

1 medium or two small carrots, peeled and finely chopped

1 rib of celery, finely chopped

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

6 cups good beef broth

Serves 4 a generous portion of soup, or six for an appetizer.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter in the vegetable oil. Saute the onion, carrot and celery in the butter and oil until the onion is softened and the vegetables are beginning to brown just a little. Add the salt and pepper, the beets and the beef broth.  Bring the mixture almost to a boil, then reduce the heat and gently simmer the soup 15 or 20 minutes or until the carrots and celery are tender. Remove from the heat and add the red wine vinegar. Puree the soup with the gadget of your choice - blender, immersion blender, food processor. Reheat to warm before serving if necessary. 

You could garnish this soup with sour cream but its really not necessary. I noticed when a dropped a little sour cream in the soup it just sunk to the bottom of the bowl. If you must garnish consider some warm crusty bread with a compound butter made with dill weed.