Soup that glows

The first Sunday in March was an extremely wet one so I elected to take a long lie in. When I decided to get up mid-morning I thought the next best thing to walking the dog was to cook a warming soup as the weather showed no real signs of letting up.

As it looked like I was going to be stuck inside all morning I mind my mind up to prepare a soup that I knew would take all morning to do but ultimately would be worth it. With the spacy guitar sounds of Pink Floyd's 1987 comeback album "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" on the stereo I set about making Beetroot and Ginger Soup. 

I took my Le Creuscet dish, put it on the hob and poured enough olive oil into it to cover the bottom of the dish. I then warmed the oil up on the lowest light possible while I prepared the other ingredients. 

I peeled a Ginger root and then grated it into the oil. I next cut three cloves of Garlic into half-inch length pieces and added these to the oil. I always think it helps with soups of this type to put your most strongly-flavoured ingredients into the mix early as it gives them chance to cook and pass their flavours onto the other ingredients that are subsequently added to them. 

I found three fresh Beetroots that I had bought from the local village market, peeled them and then cut them into one inch cubes. I find it is better to use Beetroots from local markets as the so-called 'fresh' Beetroot from supermarkets is more often than not from abroad and tastes very bitter in comparison to its British Counterpart.

I took a White Onion and proceeded to dice it up into one inch pieces. Once the Ginger and Garlic started to turn slightly brown I added the Beetroot and Onion to the dish. In order for them to cook properly I poured enough water into the dish to cover the vegetables and left them to cook on a medium heat on the hob for two hours. I found I had to occasionally to up the water about once every forty-five minutes so as to make sure the mixture did not boil dry. 

Above: when cooking the ingredients make sure you keep the water topped up so as to be certain the mixture doesn't boil dry. 

After two hours I poured the ingredients into the blender and blended into a rather toxic looking bright pink puree. I then returned them to the dish and poured a quarter of a pint of unsweetened Soya Milk into the mixture and stirred it in. It's important you cook the ingredients for at least two hours before blending to be sure they're soft otherwise if they are under cooked and you stick them in the blender your blender will overheat and start smoking. I know from experience as this is what happened the first time I tried to make this dish!  

The question was whether boiling the ingredients for two hours on the hob was worth it bearing in mind the increase in my quarterly gas bill following the making of this recipe and the fact my hob was now stained with  hot Beetroot juice that took quite a while to shift. The answer was a very clear yes, although the soup looks like something that should be used in heavy industry it has a very earthy taste due to the Beetroot that is offset against the sharp flavours of the Garlic and the Ginger. It may take a while to cook but if you can find the right Beetroot from a reliable local trader give it a go, you'll be surprised how much you enjoy it.

Above and below: after blending the garish colour belies the quality taste.