Beetroot and apple soup with goat's cheese and yogurt
This effortless yet fabulous soup is easy not only on your palate but on the eyes. It's crimson hue cheers up the coldest winter day and its also delicious served cold topped with diced cucumber as a refreshing starter for a BBQ. I love the contrast with the milky white of the cheese and yogurt. The recipe is a variation of Diana Henry's one on her book -Plenty- I've added white kumara (a type of sweet potato) and all spice to make it more aromatic. As in the classic borscht, top with dill before serving.
Serves 2
30 gr butter
1 onion, chopped roughly
1 celery stick, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
2 big garlic cloves, chopped
1 medium white kumara (sweet potato) or a normal potato, peeled and chopped
3 medium red beetroot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 green apple (Granny Smith), peeled, cored and roughly chopped
4 cups or 1 lt of vegetable stock
2 All-spice berries crushed and powdered in a mortar or a pinch of ground all-spice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve:
When hot:
Soft goat's cheese
Thick plain greek yogurt
When cold:
Cubed cucumber
Salmon roe
In a medium pot melt the butter and add onion, celery and carrot. Cook at medium heat for 5 minutes and add the garlic. Keep cooking till the vegetables are soft and the onions translucent. Add beetroot , kumara and apple and cook for a further 10 minutes. Pour the stock in and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down so the soup is slowly simmering, season with all spice and salt and leave until the root vegetables have soften and are cooked through.
Blend to a puree with a stick blender or a high power one (but you have to wait for the soup to cool down to do this and be super careful).
Serve hot with crumbled goat's cheese and a dollop of yogurt or cold with diced deseeded cucumber and salmon roe. Garnish with dill sprigs.