Beet soup with Hot Potato

Morning gorgeous readers (oh, you are, you are). As promised, I am here to fill your coffers with the recipes from my A Birthday Dinner menu over at Blushing Hostess. It was a fabulous meal and I cannot recommend these recipes more highly.

To begin, I served an adaptation of Rose Bakery's Cold Beetroot Soup with Hot Potato. It was well into the nineties that evening and I thought this soup would bring a nice balance to the main course which was quite heavy.

I dare say, if one does not care for beets but is willing to try anything by the spoonful once, they would be so pleasantly surprised that the texture here is very much like a cold melon soup and the contrast of lemon and red wine vinegars takes the beet-ness out of the beast, er, as it were.

Onward, then.

Chilled Beetroot Soup with Hot Potato
Serves 6
adapted from Rose Bakery Cookbook: The Many Little Meals of Rose Bakery

I should say, right up front, that Rose cautions you to be sure you make this soup the day before. Indeed that would truly allow the flavor to deepen and set but, I made this sometime around the time when vampires rule the night the morning before and it did not fail me. I never use water for soup and always make my own stock, though Rose did call simply for water in their recipe and to use either lemon juice or vinegar, I found I like the brightness of both.

2 onions, diced
2 sticks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 pounds beets, diced and peeled
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
8 cups chicken (or vegetable stock if you prefer) stock
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons superfine (caster) sugar
6 medium potatoes, washed and not peeled
sour cream to garnish if you care for it

Place the onions, celery, carrot, and beet in a large saucepan and cover with the chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper. bring the mixture to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for two hours or until the beet is completely softened. Allow the mixture to cool slightly.

Transfer to a food processor and puree until very thin. If the soup is too thick for your taste, add a bit of water.

Chill the soup overnight.

The next day, add the lemon juice, vinegar, and sugar. Taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly. The soup must have a sweet/sour balance.

In a large pan covered with salted water, boil the potatoes until soft. Remove and halve them. Pour the could soup into bowls, put two hot potato halves in the middle of each bowl and add a spoonful of sour cream, if you like.