Author Notes
Beets: I cannot help but be seduced by their brilliant colors and their nutritional riches, but their flavor has been a more trying relationship. With some will I have managed to develop a taste for these beautiful vegetables and discovered along the way that their earthy flavor is nicely offeset when combined with a range of acidic, spicy and sweet flavors. This soup plays off of these tastes, combining beets with citrus, ginger, chile and honey. —TasteFood
Ingredients
- Roasted Red Beet, Blood Orange and Ginger Soup
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4
large red beets
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1 tablespoon
olive oil
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1
small yellow onion, chopped
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2 tablespoons
freshly grated ginger
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1
large garlic clove, minced
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1
small serrano chile pepper, stemmed, seeded, finely chopped, about 2 tablespoons
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1 cup
water
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1 cup
freshly squeezed blood orange juice
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1 tablespoon
freshly squeezed lime juice
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1 tablespoon
honey
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1 teaspoon
salt, or more to taste
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1/2 teaspoon
freshly ground black pepper
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2 tablespoons
chopped fresh cilantro leaves, plus additional whole leaves for garnish
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Orange Crème Fraîche (recipe below)
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2
blood orange slices, cut in half
- Orange Crème Fraîche
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1/2 cup
crème fraîche (or Greek-style whole milk yogurt)
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2 tablespoons
orange juice
Directions
- Roasted Red Beet, Blood Orange and Ginger Soup
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Preheat oven to 375 F. Trim the tops and ends of the beets. Place in a baking dish and fill water up to 1" in bottom of dish. Roast beets in oven until tender, about 1 hour. Remove and cool. Peel off skin and coarsely chop beets.
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Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until nearly translucent without coloring, about 3 minutes. Add ginger, garlic and serrano chile; sauté 30 seconds. Add water and beets. Cover and simmer 10 minutes; the vegetables should be very soft. Cool slightly.
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Transfer to bowl of food processor or blender. Add blood orange juice and purée until smooth. Return to saucepan. (If soup is too thick, thin to desired consistency with additional orange juice. It should not be too thin.) Stir in lime juice and honey. Add salt and pepper and taste to adjust seasoning.
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Serve warm (not hot) or at room temperature. Before serving stir in chopped cilantro.
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Ladle soup into bowls. Top with a spoonful of Orange Crème Fraîche. Garnish with whole cilantro leaves and a slice of blood orange.
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Note: Freshly squeezed orange juice may be substituted for blood orange juice.
- Orange Crème Fraîche
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Combine crème fraîche and orange juice in a small bowl.
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