It all started in Bath, England with a bunch of three beets still covered in fresh garden dirt.
Davyd and my sister Lisa and I were living in Bath all pursuing our Master's degrees. In England, you can get your degree in one year, so the three of us packed up what we would need for twelve months, and moved into a cozy third floor Georgian mansion flat. It was centrally located in Bath on the Avon Canal and looked out toward the hills where sheep and cows grazed.
Davyd and my sister Lisa and I were living in Bath all pursuing our Master's degrees. In England, you can get your degree in one year, so the three of us packed up what we would need for twelve months, and moved into a cozy third floor Georgian mansion flat. It was centrally located in Bath on the Avon Canal and looked out toward the hills where sheep and cows grazed.
Southbourne Mansion in Bath. Our flat was the four windows to the left of the arrow.
It's amazing that in a city of 80,000+ people that there were numerous fields with livestock overlooking the city.
Very lucky cows who get to graze on one of the hills overlooking the city of Bath.
As we were students, we did not have a garden. Locals rented garden plots around the city, but we were not there long enough to be able to get on the waiting list. We did, however, have British friends, Nick and Maureen, in nearby Bathford. They owned a quaint cottage and had a lovely garden.
Maureen and Nick at their home in Bathford.
One day Maureen gave us a present of three of her freshly picked beets. We had no idea what to do with them. None of us particularly liked beets. But we were not about to waste such a sweet gift.
We all participated in food shopping and cooking meals, and it was not long before each of our individual cooking skills began to take shape. My sister had a knack for baking everything from cookies to savory pies, such as her onion, cheese, and tomato specialty pie. Davyd was the master of cooking meat. And I was the queen of making soups.
I soon came across a recipe for beet soup from a blog called Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. To this day, if you just Google "beet soup moose" it will be the first result. I had negative associations with "borsch," but this soup looked delicious. It had bacon, and you served it with a dollop of sour cream. I decided you couldn't go wrong.
We roasted the beets drizzled in olive oil in our microwave/oven. This contraption, by coincidence, hung above the washer/dryer all-in-one machine.
We all participated in food shopping and cooking meals, and it was not long before each of our individual cooking skills began to take shape. My sister had a knack for baking everything from cookies to savory pies, such as her onion, cheese, and tomato specialty pie. Davyd was the master of cooking meat. And I was the queen of making soups.
I soon came across a recipe for beet soup from a blog called Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. To this day, if you just Google "beet soup moose" it will be the first result. I had negative associations with "borsch," but this soup looked delicious. It had bacon, and you served it with a dollop of sour cream. I decided you couldn't go wrong.
We roasted the beets drizzled in olive oil in our microwave/oven. This contraption, by coincidence, hung above the washer/dryer all-in-one machine.
You can see the microwave/oven to the right of the window. Below it, behind a wooden door, is the washer/dryer machine. This shot was taken the day we left.
Then we chopped vegetables from the nearby Southgate outdoor market, cooked up some bacon, and made the most delicious soup I have ever tasted. Served with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkled with dil, it is one of the nicest hardy soups you will ever try. Your body feels as though you are giving it a hug with all the nutrients you are consuming.
The first batch of beet soup.
Now that we have our own garden, this year I decided to make an epic batch of beet soup. I had purchased a 20 quart saucepan for Davyd for his birthday, which came in handy for this batch. Most everything still in our garden in October went into it. Beets, cabbage, yellow carrots, onions, kale. And I now have an immersion blender, which gives the soup a more processed, blended consistency. This also makes for easy freezing.
The epic beet soup of 2014
The lovely part of beet soup is that you can add anything from your garden to it, and it will always turn out tasty and nutritious. For the best taste, I highly recommend the bacon and adding red wine. However, if you are vegetarian, the soup can be made without the bacon. Just saute the vegetables in olive oil. Here is my recipe, slightly altered from the original on the Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska blog,
Gardener's Beet Soup
Serves 6
Step 1: Roast the beets
Note: This can be done beforehand, as they can keep in the refrigerator for about a week.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Wash the beets, cut off the greens leaving an inch of stem (don't cut into the beet itself), rub the beets with olive oil, and wrap tightly in a foil packet. Bake for 40 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of the beets and how fresh they are. The beets are done when they're tender if poked with a knife or skewer. Let the beets cool, and slip off their skins.
Step 2: Make the soup
Sauté the bacon in a Dutch oven until the fat has rendered and the bacon begins to brown. Add the parsnips, carrots, celery, and onions, and sauté until the onion softens. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Stir in the stock, tomatoes, ketchup, wine, beets, cabbage, kale, and spinach. Bring to a boil, cover, turn down the heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes. Uncover and cook for 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are cooked through and the broth is flavorful.
Serve the soup immediately, topped with a dollop of sour cream and minced fresh dill.
You can also choose to let the soup cool, and then freeze it in small batches for an easy winter dinner.
- 1 cup diced bacon
- 1 cup diced parsnips
- 1 cup diced carrots
- Chopped kale to taste
- Chopped cabbage to taste
- Chopped spinach to taste
- 1 cup red wine, or to taste
- 1 1/2 cups diced celery
- 1 1/2 cups diced onions
- 2 Tbsp. minced garlic
- 6 cups vegetable or beef stock
- 1 14.5 ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 4 medium-sized beets, roasted and diced
- 1 1/2 cups finely shredded cabbage
- Sour cream
- Minced dill
Step 1: Roast the beets
Note: This can be done beforehand, as they can keep in the refrigerator for about a week.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Wash the beets, cut off the greens leaving an inch of stem (don't cut into the beet itself), rub the beets with olive oil, and wrap tightly in a foil packet. Bake for 40 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of the beets and how fresh they are. The beets are done when they're tender if poked with a knife or skewer. Let the beets cool, and slip off their skins.
Step 2: Make the soup
Sauté the bacon in a Dutch oven until the fat has rendered and the bacon begins to brown. Add the parsnips, carrots, celery, and onions, and sauté until the onion softens. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Stir in the stock, tomatoes, ketchup, wine, beets, cabbage, kale, and spinach. Bring to a boil, cover, turn down the heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes. Uncover and cook for 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are cooked through and the broth is flavorful.
Serve the soup immediately, topped with a dollop of sour cream and minced fresh dill.
You can also choose to let the soup cool, and then freeze it in small batches for an easy winter dinner.
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