Cookbook Challenge: Week 10, Cool
Recipe: Iced beetroot soup
From: Jill Dupleix’s Lighten Up
Argh! I’m late for (last week’s) Cookbook Challenge! Despite knowing what I was going to make at the beginning of the week, I’m still late with it! In my defense though, I was going to do it in the weekend but ended up spending all day Saturday painting the walls of our bottom floor. I thought that I would be able to squeeze in some quick cooking on the day, but the painting took much longer than I thought, despite getting up early (7:30am on a SATURDAY, thank you very much). We were out on Saturday night, and out all day on Sunday, so there was no opportunity to do my Cookbook Challenge recipe.
I did take yesterday (the day before Australia Day) off, but guess what I spent it doing? More painting! I painted the lower stairway, and again that took all day. Anyway, here I am finally, only a couple of days late. Thank goodness today is a public holiday!
The theme for Week 10 is “cool” and guess what? Unlike the past five weeks, I didn’t do a sweet recipe! Instead, I did a chilled beetroot soup. I can’t say I’ve ever had a beetroot soup before, much less a cold one, so had zero expectations of this one.
Well I’m pleased to say that the soup is very good and would be very refreshing on a hot day. It’s quite spicy with the shallots and raw garlic (warning, it tends to hang around for a bit afterwards!), while still being sweet and earthy. Plus it’s a gorgeous ruby-red colour. It could be the prettiest soup ever!
After making the soup, I still have half a bunch of beetroot left. I wonder what I should do with it. Perhaps I could work it into this week’s theme (mixed)…?
See previous Cookbook Challenge posts here.
Update: See the round up for this week at My Food Trail.
Iced beetroot soup
From Jill Dupleix’s Lighten Up
Serves 6 to 8
3 shallots
2 celery stalks (I didn’t have any and left this out)
500g beetroot, cooked and peeled
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
300ml vegetable stock or water
sea salt and pepper
1 tablespoon horseradish cream
100g thick Greek yoghurt
chives to finish
Roughly chop the shallots, celery and the beetroot and mix with the crushed garlic, wine vinegar and olive oil.
Cover and leave it to marinate for a couple of hours or overnight.
Place the beetroot mixture into a blend and blend to a smooth puree. Add the stock, salt and pepper and blend again until smooth.
Chill until ready to serve.
Stir the horseradish cream with the yoghurt. When ready to serve, add a dollop of the horseradish yoghurt on top of the soup, grind over some pepper and spear with a chive.
chitchatchomp@yahoo.com.au
January 27, 2010 @ 9:42 am
This looks amazing. I've never attempted cold soups before (something never seemed quite right about them), but now that you’ve tried I might have to give it a go. Leigh
Iron Chef Shellie
January 27, 2010 @ 12:04 pm
Looks sooo good. I wanted to take the day before Australia Day off, but I couldn't 🙁 Glad you had a productive weekend though!
Ange
January 27, 2010 @ 7:43 pm
I love borscht & as I've always eaten it hot I dont think I could cope with a similar soup cold though it does sound tempting. As for mixed week, see my post, funnily beetroot & chocolate muffins!
Rilsta @ My Food Trail
January 27, 2010 @ 8:12 pm
What an unusual but great choice of recipe this week! It's so red!
Painting is such a chore but good to hear you got a lot done over the (your) long weekend! Hopefully there's not much left to do!
Adrian @ Food Rehab
January 27, 2010 @ 8:35 pm
Yes, would love to have this during a hot summers day. Perfect timing and great presentation. 🙂
Cherrie Pie
January 27, 2010 @ 10:35 pm
Wow… look at that colour! I'm always looking for a good beetroot recipe and I think that this looks great. Will give this one a go.
Gluten Shmooten
January 28, 2010 @ 7:16 pm
oh yum I had this in Poland years ago and you've refreshed my memory, I will have to give this a go. Your pics are beautiful too
mademoiselle délicieuse
January 28, 2010 @ 8:53 pm
This is an unbelievably rich and romantic colour. I suspect it would make great 'shots' of soup for a fancy dinner party =) Something reminiscent of bold lipstick from the 1920s!
What's For Tea?
January 28, 2010 @ 9:55 pm
Oh that looks so pretty! I admire such an usual choice of recipe.
As for the rest of the beetroot, perhaps a 'mixed' juice or roast it and crumble some feta over the top?
penny aka jeroxie
January 28, 2010 @ 10:39 pm
I do love the ruby red. I still have doors and outdoor area left to paint. Just so lazy to do it!
Agnes
January 28, 2010 @ 11:02 pm
chitchatchomp: It does seem a bit strange to have soup cold! But it was okay. There was tons of flavour in it, which helped.
Shellie: awww, too bad you didn't get a super long weekend. I'm so glad I had that extra day because I would have been exhausted without it!
Ange: oooh beetroot and chocolate muffins! I still haven't decided on (or thought about!) a recipe for this week.
Rilsta: It was super red – I'm SO glad I didn't spill it! And there is a fair amount to go – 2 more floors! But I'm just going to take it slowly and do it over the next few months.
Adrian: I think we have some hot weather coming up shortly… go grab some beetroot 😉
Cherrie Pie: if you make it, don't do what I did and chuck in extra garlic. Mine was so garlicky – I ate about 10 mints after eating it!
Gluten Shmooten: aww thanks! I found it really hard to take photos of this soup – odd because it's so vibrant and gorgeous that I didn't think it would be that hard!
mademoiselle: it would be perfect for a dinner party! But I took it to work and ate it for lunch, hehee. Not quite as glam!
Penny: painting is hard work – not so much the painting itself but all the prepping and washing up just kills me!
Vee Ann
January 31, 2010 @ 2:32 pm
Girl, you made beetroot sexy! Enough said. Can't wait for your mixed dish!
Vee - A Melbourne Munchkin.
January 31, 2010 @ 2:33 pm
Oops didn't realize my sister had signed into my laptop!
Conor @ HoldtheBeef
February 2, 2010 @ 12:04 pm
You know, I've never had beetroot soup before, not even when I was in Russia! Looks pretty damn good. I hope you didn't spill any on your nice newly painted walls 😀
Agnes
February 8, 2010 @ 9:29 pm
Hehee, thanks Vee!
Conor: I was SO WORRIED I was going to spill the soup everywhere and stain everything (I am a messy cook!). Fortunately I managed to keep things pretty clean.