I made this on the spur of the moment because I happened to have leftover Beet-Orange Purée with Brown Butter in the fridge and, on a day like today where it was quite warm, using it as the base of a chilled soup seemed like a great lunch idea. You can use plain beet juice instead, which is easy to make or even to buy ready pressed though you will end up with a thinner soup. Should you take the pre-bought route, rather than using left over purée, add a tablespoon of orange juice and a glug of red wine to the beet juice before using.
I had made a heavily garnished 10-Minute Carrot and Red Chard Stalk Soup last week which I had very much enjoyed, so I used the multiple garnish idea again to what my tummy and I felt was great effect. And the nice thing is that you can use whatever you have to hand as garnish - I basically look for a crunchy, a fresh and an acidic, and give myself bonus points for anything else that I add to the mix. In today's soup I used julienned radish, chopped mint, chopped sushi ginger and cut little leaves out of a cooked beet that was left over from making the original dish.
I happen to love chilled soups -- the ease of them and the way that you can dress them up or down depending on appetite and circumstance. I have the impression that they will be featuring heavily this summer especially as we remain in lockdown and some of us are putting on a bit of weight...
This makes enough soup for one person for lunch.
1/2 cup beet purée (or beet juice, doctored as described above)
1 cup stock or beet juice
1 Tbsp sour cream
2 tsps orange juice
Mix the cold purée and juice together. Place in a chilled soup bowl.
Mix the sour cream and orange juice together. Drizzle attractively over the soup.
Top with the garnishes that you chose.
Inhale.
Comments