Love Soup (tm)
Feed Your Soul Love Soup.
Valentine's Day. Love it, hate it, regardless it would be nice to dive into a bowl of silky smooth beet soup. This is my take on a borscht, a traditional beet soup. This particular bowl is rich, smooth, silky, and incredibly energizing... you may feel like you could just go all night. Perhaps its from the niacin, promoting your blood to flow, or it simply raising your HDL's along with that coconut oil. Anyway, you are bound to feel good and filled with love.
Ingredients
Coconut Oil - 2 tbsp
Sweet Onion - 1 large sliced
Red Onion - 1/2 large sliced
Garlic - 5 cloves
Celery - 4 stalks sliced
Red Beets - 5 medium each medium dice
Fennel - 1 bulb sliced
Chicken or Vegetable Stock - 1.5 quarts
Dried Dill - 3 tbsp
Fresh Dill - 1/2 cup - chopped reserve some plushes for garnish
Spiced Pepitas
Pumpkin Seeds - 1/2 cup
Sweet Smoked Paprika - 2 tsp
Cayenne - 1/8 tsp
Maple Syrup - 2 tsp
Salt - a few pinches to taste
Cultured Creme
Greek Yogurt 2% - 1/2 cup
Heavy Cream - 2 tbsp
Water - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Method
In a large sauce pot slowly sweat those sweet juicy onions and garlic over medium. As they begin to sweat, slice the celery and fennel and add the pot. When they are translucent turn up the heat and add the beets and some salt. Cook over medium heat and beets will begin to slowly caramelize, then add the stock and dried dill and simmer until beets are very tender. Pull off the heat, add the fresh dill and some more coconut oil or butter if you choose, and blend until smooth.
When you are blending, make sure that you start with the solids and then add the liquids until it is the right consistency.
For the Pepitas
Heat a cast iron pan and add pumpkin seeds and begin to toast, when they start to get golden, add the smoked paprika, cayenne and maple and salt and stir until it starts to caramelize. Take out the pan onto a plate.
Cultured Creme
Whisk ingredients together. The mix should be able to drizzle but hold together. Season with salt. Pour into a squeeze bottle.
To Finish
Ladle or gently pour the silky smooth soup into the bowl. Shake the squeeze bottle and do dots of creme at the tip of an equilateral triangle. Drag a toothpick through the circle to make a heart. Then sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and drizzle with olive oil and fresh dill pieces.