Time for some beetroot soup!

I came across this blog I wrote last year and it reminded me that with the evenings drawing in and the shorter cays becoming cooler, now is the time for soup! What could be more warming than beetroot soup, and having struggled with years to get it as tasty as it sounds, I found an Iraqi recipe which is just perfect… mellow, sweet, warm, yummy!

I love beetroot, and love the idea of borscht, that eastern European speciality; however, I have never liked the beetroot soup I made, it always seems earthy and with an off-putting metallic taste. However I found a recipe which suggests peeling the beetroot before you cook them… conventionally you wash them only, boil them in their skins and then peel them when they are cooked.

I peeled my raw beetroot, it looked as if murder had been committed, red everywhere! I boiled them and used the red cooking  liquor for the soup. I made the soup in the ordinary way, with onions and herbs and spices and seasoning , rubbed it through a sieve, added a little vegetable stock, thickened with cornflour, garnished with coriander and mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!