Roasted Beet Soup With Crème Fraîche Recipes

CREAMY ROASTED BEET SOUP

Steps:

• In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Sauté the onions for about 5 minutes until tender but not browned.
• At this point if you have an immersion blender, continue to make the soup in the pot. Add beets, broth, lemon juice, honey, thyme, salt and pepper. If you need to simmer the mixture until the beets soften a bit more, go ahead and do that. When the beets are very tender stick the blender in and blend away until smooth. If you want to continue with a food processor or blender, great - scrape the onions into a the machine of your choice, then add the beets, 1 cup of the broth, juice, honey, thyme and salt and pepper and puree until smooth. Return the mixture to the pot and add the rest of the broth.
• Either way, after the mixture is back in the pot, you add the cream and heat over medium-low heat until the whole thing is hot. Or if you would like to serve it cold, just stir in the cream and chill the soup for a few hours.
• Serve the soup in mugs or bowls with the chopped onion and sour cream.

ROASTED BEET SOUP WITH CRèME FRAîCHE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Wrap beets in foil and roast until tender when pierced with fork, about 1 hour. Cool. Peel beets. Cut 1/4 of 1 beet into 1/4-inch cubes; reserve for garnish. Cut remaining beets into 1/2-inch pieces.
• Melt butter with oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add leek, onion, and celery and cook until beginning to brown, stirring frequently, about 13 minutes. Stir in ginger, allspice, white pepper, and 1/2-inch beet pieces. Cook until vegetables begin to stick to bottom of pot, stirring frequently, about 7 minutes. Add 2 cups water, bay leaf, thyme sprig, and parsley sprig. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 25 minutes. Remove bay leaf, thyme sprig, and parsley sprig. Cool soup slightly. Working in batches, puree soup in blender with cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly, cover, and refrigerate.)
• Gently rewarm soup (do not boil). Divide between 2 bowls. Garnish each with 1 tablespoon crème fraîche. Sprinkle with reserved beet cubes.

CREAMY ROASTED BEET SOUP

Steps:

• In a large saucepan set over moderate heat cook beets and onion in butter, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add broth, thyme, bay leaf and salt and pepper to taste and simmer soup, covered, for 15 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Transfer to a food processor or blender and puree, in batches if necessary, until smooth. Return soup to saucepan, stir in cream and vinegar and bring soup to a simmer, stirring, until heated through. Garnish each serving with cream and dill, if desired.;

GLAZED BEETS WITH CREME FRAICHE AND PISTACHIOS

Steps:

• For the beets, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Massage each beet with about a teaspoon of oil and season with salt and pepper. Individually wrap each beet in aluminum foil. Place the beets on a baking sheet and bake for about an hour, or until you can easily pierce them with a knife.
• When the beets have cooled enough to handle but are still warm, unwrap them and rub them with a dry kitchen towel or paper towels to remove their skin. Cut the beets into quarters and allow to cool completely.
• Fill a high-sided saute pan with 1/4 cup of water, the honey and butter and place over medium-high heat; stir gently. Once the mixture begins to thicken and form a glaze, turn off the heat, add the cooked beets and toss to coat them in the glaze. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• For the pistachios, toast them in a small saute pan over medium heat just until they're warm and you can smell their "pistachio-ness." Cool and chop or crush them slightly; they should remain chunky to give good crunch to the dish.
• For the creme fraiche, place it in a bowl and mix with the lemon zest and about half the chopped mint. Refrigerate until you're ready to assemble the dish.
• To serve, spoon the creme fraiche mixture over the bottom of a medium serving dish. Place the warm beets (reheat them if necessary) on top of the creme fraiche in a single layer. (Resist the urge to pile these beauties high; you'll want to be getting creme fraiche and beet in every bite.) If there's any glaze leftover in the pan, pour it over the beets. Sprinkle the pistachios over the beets. Tear the parsley leaves with your fingertips and let them fall naturally over the beets. Sprinkle on the rest of the mint, add a few grinds of fresh black pepper and you're good to go.