Beetroot soup

Beetroot soup

“It seems odd not to be convinced about beetroot but to be passionate about this, because in a way this thick, velvety soup, is the sweet, smooth essence of beef” (Nigella, p436.)

After the success with the beet greens and buckwheat noodles recipe, I am looking forward to graduating onto tasting beetroot proper. As I mentioned before, beetroot is one of those vegetables that I always think that I don’t like, but then when I think about the occasions when I have eaten it, I realise that they are limited to unwanted soggy and sorry beetroot pickled in what can only be described as acidic vinegar. I am sure Nigella means to present no such recipe.
For the first time (I think), I am not planning on making this for my OH and myself. I am due to visit my parents on Sunday and have promised to take something for lunch. I therefore thought that this would be perfect, not least because it is easily transportable in a cleaned milk carton. There is also another reason why I wanted my mum, especially, to try this recipe. She adores beetroot, and used to make her own beetroot soup from the beetroot that my dad used to grow in the garden. Apparently, when she was pregnant with me she used to live on it, so it is quite surprising that I don’t warm to it more than I do. I thought it would be fairer to the recipe if it was tried by someone who actually likes beetroot, as opposed to me, who will probably unfairly and childishly criticise it, simply because I don’t much care for beetroot. Therefore, the “result” section will be written by my mum, and I, for the first time, will be the culinary “other,” unless I can persuade my dad also to try it.
This recipe does seem to have a lot going for it, though. I love the inclusion of Dijon mustard. As you may know, I love Dijon mustard and my OH and I always have a pot in our fridge. I am therefore predisposed to respond positively toward any recipe which includes this particular ingredient.
I also see that Nigella includes a recipe for spiced beetroot soup in Forever Summer, which seems to use the same basic blueprint as this, but also includes extra elaborations, including lime juice. I always like it when I see that a recipe I am trying is presented elsewhere in another Nigella book. Call it bizarre, but it makes me feel that Nigella must at least have enough confidence in the recipe to present versions of it twice.
Nigella explicitly says that “It’s difficult to say how many it will feed, as I tend to do a big quantity and just keep a jug of it in the fridge for a few days.” I therefore decided to keep quantities the same and leave any extras at my parent’s house.

Ingredients: This has very few ingredients. If you have made the beet greens recipe (as I have) then you will already have the beetroot needed for this recipe. If not, beetroot can be easily brought at the supermarket or greengrocer. All other ingredients can be easily purchased from anywhere. We used a new brand of Dijon mustard, just to try it - Grey-Poupon prepared Dijon mustard – which proved to be very nice. Nigella also says that yoghurt, buttermilk or smetana is a wonderful, but optional addition and I decided to use zero-fat Total Greek yoghurt.

Price: As I already had the beetroot, the mustard, balsamic vinegar and yoghurt totalled just £2.51; highly inexpensive.


(Beetroots in water)
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(Boiling away)
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Method: Although this recipe takes quite a long time to make, it certainly is not complicated. One simply pops the beetroot in a saucepan, covers with cold water and then boils for two hours. Although this can be left alone as it does not boil over, it is worth checking on it from time to time. I found that I needed to top up the water 3 times in 2 hours; hardly a problem, but certainly worth knowing. After that one peels the beetroot, which is very easy as I found that the skins just slipped off, pops the peeled beetroot in the blender and blitzes with the mustard and vinegar. I think that the best thing about this recipe is that one can create the texture of the soup oneself by using as much or as little cooking liquid as desired. I tried to create a harmonious balance between a thick, velvety soup, and one that could be easily poured. I found this compromise position to require quite a lot of cooking liquid (more so than one might think); about 1/2 of the total water in the saucepan.
After this I let the soup cool and then stashed away in the fridge, ready for transportation. The next day for lunch, mum simply decanted the sauce into a saucepan and heated, but not boiled, before pouring into bowls. I also had a bowl (the square white china bowl) as did dad.


(Beetroot, Dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar blitzed in blender)

Result: Firstly, mum said that the soup *looks* wonderful; a deep and velvety glossy burgundy red. She said that even from the very first mouthful there was a very strong taste of beetroot and that it was the strongest beetroot soup that she has ever eaten. This does mean, however, that someone who does not like beetroot will not be able to stomach it. She did like it, as she does like beetroot, but kept repeating that she would be worried about serving this to someone whose preferences were unknown because a.) it is very, very strong and b.) beetroot is an acquired taste. This really was, as Nigella mentions, essence of beetroot and therefore very strongly flavoured with all of the deep woody intensity of beet.


(Beetroot soup reheating on the stove)

Other person’s perspective: I had a bowl of this and surprisingly I did not hate it. I actually quite liked the taste of beetroot, and am quite coming around to it, now. The soup was, as mum said, very strongly flavoured and so perhaps not the ideal recipe to ease anyone gently into the taste of beetroot. However, I did think that the texture was wonderfully glossy and thick and that the cool yoghurt went wonderfully with the woody and fresh beetroot.
My dad’s comments were much more favourable, proving that this soup, like any other recipe I suppose, is purely a matter of personal taste. He said that the soup was very fruity, very fresh with a lovely beetroot flavour. He said that the soup looked beautiful, tasted absolutely lovely and under no circumstances was it too strong.

Future changes: Mum said that to neutralise the soup somewhat it could be less concentrated. In practical terms, this means watering the texture down with more of the cooking liquid. I don’t know if I agree with this; I loved the thick and velvety texture and would be sorry to part with it. As you can see, with this recipe 3 people had 3 very different culinary opinions about this soup and so I suppose the only way that you can determine whether this soup is for you is to make it yourself.

Rating: My mum rated this 4/5; my dad 5/5 and me 3/5 and so I suppose averaged together, the soup should receive a rating of 4/5.