Versatile Uses of Beetroot I. / Cold Beet Soup With Yogurt and Herbs

With autumn approaching, huge piles of root vegetables can be found at the markets. However, temperatures still call for summery tastes, so it’s a good choice to make use of seasonal vegetables in a refreshing way. This time I picked beetroot, and prepared a cold soup with yogurt and herbs and an ice cream with pomegranate syrup and honey.

To start off, you need to arrive at having a decent quantity of roasted beetroot. I prefer roasting to cooking because this way the characteristic earthy, deep flavor of beetroot is more intense.

To begin with, get 1-1.5 kilos of beetroot, wash them thoroughly. Heat oven to 180 °C. Lay tinfoil into a pan, drizzle it with olive oil, add the beets, a few cloves of garlic and herbs according to your preference. This time I used oregano. Cover it with another piece of foil, seal it and roast the beetroots until tender, about 1 hour, depending on the size of the beets. When they are ready, unwrap beets, let them cool, peel, and cut them into chunks. Set aside.

350 g red beets roasted (see above)

1 medium onion

1 garlic clove

1 teaspoon cumin

2 tablespoons olive oil

500 ml chicken stock

350 g Greek yogurt

For the garnish:

1 mozzarella

herbs (mint, parsley, tropaeolum)

edible flowers

pumpkin seed

pumpkin seed oil

yogurt

Chop the onion and the garlic. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until tender, add garlic and cumin, cook for 2-3 minutes more. Season with salt. Let it cool.

Add the beets, the chicken stock and the yogurt. Using a hand blender, blend until smooth. Put the soup into the fridge to chill.

Prepare the garnish.

When serving, divide the soup into bowls, add a twist of lemon, garnish with mozzarella, scatter with herbs and edible flowers according to your choice (I used mint, parsley, tropaeolum and the flower of oriental garlic from the garden), pumpkin seeds, sprinkle with pumpkin seed oil and yogurt.