Simple Measure

I’d be lying if I said beets and I have always been buddies. Working at the co-op, I would cruise through produce every night to grab dinner fixins — and I always breezed right by the beets. At that time dinner was never planned in advance, so I would just get whatever called out to me. And the beets? They never so much as whispered.

But of course I couldn’t ignore the POUNDS of beets that began showing up in my CSA share this summer. Week after week I’d reach into the box, grab a fistful of greens and haul out big, fat, bunches of red and golden beets.

Up for the challenge, I started throwing beets into everything. Jared and I sat down to a steady succession of beet burgers, beet pasta, beet salads and even beet sandwiches. Turns out, we like ‘em, a LOT. Slightly earthy and very sweet — especially if you’re eating fresh beets in season — they seemed to complement every dish we made. Not to mention dye all our dinners a royal purple.

But the one thing we never tried (probably because it’s too durn hot in Chicago in July) was beet soup. And when it did end up on our table last week, it was almost by accident.

I was trying to get things wrapped up at the office when Jared called to see if he could get anything prepped for dinner.

“Sure… Um. Steam some carrots?”

“OK. Anything else?”

“Why don’t you boil some beets, too.”

“OK. What are we having?”

“… I’ll figure that out when I get home.”

Later, realizing my impromptu instructions faced us with a bland dinner of steamed carrots and beets, I sighed: oh, puree it.

But a couple extra ingredients and a spin in the food processor later and that dull dinner was transformed into the most beautiful, beetiest soup ever. And this dish was more than a knockout, it was silky, rich and delicious, too.

A word of caution: this is a VERY beety dish, so if you’re serving it to non-enthusiasts, you may want to add more carrots and reduce the number of beets used.

Beet Soup
Serves 2

3 medium beets

3 medium carrots, chopped

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, diced

2 Tbs oil

3 - 4 Tbs soymilk, or heavy cream

1 Tbs parsley, chopped fine

1/4 tsp nutmeg, plus extra for garnish

Juice of 1/2 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Once a beet is cooked it’s easier to slip it out of its skin. You can cook your beets for this recipe by boiling them whole for 45 minutes or roasting them in a 400 degree oven for almost an hour. Either way, they’re done when they’re very tender. Set them aside to cool before removing their skins and cubing them. While the beets are cooking away, prepare and steam your carrots until they are also tender. Reserve some of the water from steaming the carrots.

Next, saute the onion and garlic in the oil until soft, about 3 - 5 minutes.

Stir carrots, cubed beets and the onion and garlic mix together. Add to your food processor with a little bit of the reserved carrot water. Puree until smooth.

Return the soup to the pot and add the soymilk, lemon juice, parsley and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper to your taste. Heat the soup back up, being careful not to boil it.

Serve at once. Some good Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top gave the soup some extra zip.