Beetroot soup with blue cheese crouton

My love for beetroot is well documented. In fact, I wrote a version of this post ranting about how underrated beetroot was and then realised that I’d written the exact same post last time I posted a beetroot-centric recipe. So this is a re-write. Oops. But at least it shows I’m consistent in my affections. Beetroot rules.

A great thing to do with beetroot is make soup. This one is full of flavour with a thick consistency. The blue cheese really complements the natural sweetness of the beets.

Olive Magazine

Ingredients

1 kg beetroots topped, tailed, scrubbed clean and cut into large pieces
1 red onion cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic
1/2 small bunch thyme plus a few leaves
500 ml vegetable stock
100 ml crème fraîche
1/2 lemon juiced

TOASTS

3 slices sourdough cut in half
150 g blue cheese
4 tbsp caramelised onion chutney

Instructions

Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Put the beetroot, red onion and garlic into a roasting tin, pour in 150ml of water, season well and scatter over the thyme. Cover with a double layer of foil and put into the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes or until the beetroots are very tender to the point of a knife.
Remove the foil, then peel the beetroots and discard the skin, then chop into small pieces. Put into a pan with the onion, garlic and vegetable stock, bring to the boil then use a hand blender to whizz until completely smooth, or ladle into a blender and whizz. Season, then stir in the crème fraîche and lemon juice, and whizz again. Keep warm.
Heat the grill to high. Put the bread pieces onto a baking tray and toast on either side. Spread on some onion chutney and then add the blue cheese. Grill until melted.
Spoon the soup into bowls and top with the toasts.