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Roasted Candy Beet and Carrot Soup

Delicious and wholesome, I can often be found googling for "things to do with beetroot" and this delicious soup from Gill Murray is one of my favourite results. 

This wonderful root vegetable is more than hardy enough for the cold, winter ground frost, and is at its seasonal best between July and January here in Scotland.

Most of us, I'm sure, will recall growing up with jars of pickled beetroot on the table.  In my Grandad and Nana's house it was as essential as a fat, brown pickled onion when eating breaded haddock and homemade chips, and always went into a roll with cheese and tomato. 

Glorious foodie memories indeed, but it was the huge revelation at about age 9 that beetroot could also be enjoyed non-pickled, and still slightly warm from its time in the boiling pan, that will remain with me forever as one of my life's most wonderful food highlights.  That combination of a deep, earthy flavour with a sweet aftertaste was unlike anything I'd ever had before and remains one of my favourite things to eat to this day.

Not only that, but beetroot is packed with nutrition; they are an excellent source of folic acid and a very good source of fibre, manganese and potassium. if you're buying them whole then make sure to keep the green, leafy tops which are rich in calciumiron and vitamins A and C and which can be cooked up and enjoyed in the same way as spinach  

This beetroot soup is a perfect recipe for raw beetroot, and should be served with a hunk of crusty bread for maximum enjoyment levels! 

Preparation Time:
10 minutes
Cooking Time:
1 hour 25 mins
Serves: 6

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 leek
  • 1 cooking apple
  • 2 large candy beetroots
  • 1.5 litre vegetable stock
  • Soured cream to serve
  • Knob of butter
    1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Scrub and clean the beetroot and line a baking sheet with tin foil. I've used candy beetroot as it has a lovely sweet and earthy flavour but whatever type of beetroot you can source will work well. Place the cleaned beets in the foil and coat lightly with olive oil. Wrap the beets in the foil and roast in the oven until cooked, which will take approximately 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool to allow you to peel off the skin.
     
    2. Chop the onion, carrots, leeks, apple and beetroot. In a large pan melt the butter then add the onion, carrots, leek and garlic. Mix thoroughly to evenly coat in the butter then add a splash of water and cover and allow to sweat on a low heat for 10 minutes or until the onions and carrots are soft.
     
    3.  Add the apple and beetroot to the pan and stir well. Leave to sweat for a further 5 minutes then add in the stock. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, then puree with a hand blender. Season to taste and serve with some cream.