What to drink: Pour brut or rosé Champagne throughout the meal, or pair the soup with a light red wine (try an Oregon Pinot Noir) and theOven Roasted Dungeness Crabwith a fragrant dry white, such as Viognier or New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
Ingredients
Makes 2 first-course servings
Step 1
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.
Step 2
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.)
Step 3
Gently rewarm soup (do not boil). Divide between 2 bowls. Garnish each with 1 tablespoon crème fraîche. Sprinkle with reserved beet cubes.
How would you rate Roasted Beet Soup with Crème Fraîche?
Leave a Review
Reviews (30)
Back to TopAwesome recipe. Made it once with roasting the beets and once with boiling (had something else in the oven!). Both turned out great. Left out the fresh spices, no problem. As others suggested, I used chicken broth in place of water for more flavor. The creme fraiche/sour cream really does balance out the flavors of the soup nicely and it also looks pretty.
JoyLouise
Denver, CO
4/23/2014
So my oven broke when I was trying to make this recipe :( So I had no choice but to boil the beets. I keep the water I boiled the beets in and used it in the soup as well. The color of the soup was fantastic, and the flavor was even better...absolutely loved this recipe, and the bf said it was the best soup I've made so far!!! I used veggie broth. and let it cook on the stove for a good 50 mins. I didn't use allspice, and I used fresh ginger instead of powder, black pepper and kosher salt. YUMMY WILL MAKE AGAIN!!!!
ashOlady
New Orleans, LA
2/15/2013
We love roasted beets so this was a natural for us. We used four different kinds of beets, two of which were a golden variety, making the color a vibrant magenta -- quite striking! As some others did, I used chicken stock instead of water, and about half the amount. I substituted Nantes carrots for the celery. The seasonings are inspired, though I did leave out the allspice as some suggested. We're on a low-fat regime so I substituted European-style plain nonfat yogurt for the crème fraîche, which worked really well. And of course I put the heart on top -- how could you not, with that picture?
Anonymous
Palos Verdes Estates, CA
10/24/2012
Wow! This recipe is great. I made it for a dinner party and people were asking for the recipe. I will make this again for sure. I only made one minor change, I used chicken broth instead of water. An amazing dish!
Anonymous
Raleigh, NC
12/12/2011
This was a good base recipe. I was looking for a beet soup recipe, this was closest to what I had in mind. I followed the recipe mostly but added carrots, alot of them. I didn't have parsley but had fresh thyme, dill and cilantro. Tossed a wee bit of each in. I skipped the allspice, though love it in other foods this just didn't seem to fit with allspice, glad I left it out. Didn't have whipping cream, used half and half, worked fine. Extremely delicious soup!
Chef2011
4/19/2011
This was a deliciously easy way to use up my bumper crop of beets. I served it with goat cheese and Swiss chard tart for a lunch that looked like it took hours but really was fast and easy.
jeanio2
Carmel, NY
12/25/2010
This soup is amazing -- I have made this recipe several times and even the I-don't-like-beets people love it. Elegant, gorgeous, and absolutely delicious. Good advice on using chicken broth below -- thanks.
Anonymous
Cook from Philadelphia
11/11/2010
beautiful in color and taste; instead of allspice went cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg freshly ground but is was so good!!!
reneensal
boston, ma
4/4/2010
一个可爱的菜,在外观和味道,和简单!Loved the sweetness of the beets combined w/ the tanginess of the sour cream.
Anonymous
bronx, ny
9/13/2009
Sadly, the color of the soup did not turn out well for me ... it was brown and muddy looking, instead of the pretty purple color in the picture. It tasted yummy though!
jkoellh1
nyc, ny
6/16/2009
A great, simple recipe full of flavour - in short, perfect both for entertaining or an easy simple dinner or lunch. We used regular black pepper and slightly less cream, and thought the creme fraiche could have been cut in half. One tablespoon almost seemed to get in the way.
Anonymous
Vancouver, BC
2/20/2009
I added a bit more than they asked of all the veggies in the recipe as well as adding some small creamer potatoes- about 8 small ones. I used chicken broth instead of water and added full fat Total greek yogurt at the end and it was the best soup I have ever made. Totally delicious, tasty and light feeling but heavy enough to be comforting. I suggest some diced avocado to work as a garnish too.
neonandsnowy
NYC, NY.
1/18/2009
A hit! I added a bit of chopped red cabbage as well (as per the traditional beet soup).And instead of all spice, I used garam masala for a bit of sweet spice. YUUUUUM.
Anonymous
Montreal
9/29/2008
My favorite food presentation of all time. So pretty and delicious. I make this any chance I get.
obecca
Albuquerque
11/15/2007
This is a good recipe. One change, use 50/50 clear stock/Red Wine (shiraz) instead of water. The wine makes a nice flavour plus helps keep the desired colour. Also add a bit more allspice and ginger. Yumm and very pretty to look at as well.
Anonymous
Ottawa
10/9/2007
