Now in Season: Beets

Cooper Boone's recipe for delicious beet soup is a simple recipe that incorporates a hearty summer root vegetable in a light, healthy soup.

Find fresh beets at the country store or farmer's market, bring them home to your country kitchen and get cooking with beets. In Cooper's kitchen, recipes are always flexible - to make your beet soup vegetarian, simply replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock.

Made fresh, this recipe highlights the summer side of beets, coupling a hearty root flavor with a lot of spice. Tempered with a sour cream garnish and topped with scallions, this beet soup recipe is a colorful dish, perfect for summer entertaining.

GARLIC-GINGER BEET SOUP

Ingredients:
6 medium beets, roasted, peeled and diced (you can substitute with two 15 oz. cans of canned beets)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 tablespoon ginger, peeled and minced
1 cup white wine
2 cups chicken stock
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Sour cream, for garnish
4 scallions or chives, diced

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Place beets on a cookie sheet and roast until tender (about an hour). Let cool. When the skin on the beets becomes wrinkled and pulls away easily, the beets are ready to be peeled, sliced and set aside.

In a large saucepan, warm olive oil over medium heat. Stir in onions, garlic and ginger. Sauté until brown (about 5-7 minutes). Add white wine and cook for 7 minutes, reducing wine. Stir in beets, chicken stock, vinegar, cheese and mustard. Bring to a boil. Then cover, reduce heat to low and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and allow soup to cool.

In batches, add cooled soup to a blender and pulse until liquefied. Salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls, add a small dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with diced chives or scallions. You can serve this soup either hot or cold.

Food for Thought:
-Be sure to eat your summer beets fairly soon after purchasing, before their starch turns to sugar.
-If beets are out of season you can get them canned.
-When peeling beets, use a vegetable peeler. If you have to use a knife, lay the beet on a flat surface and cut away from you.


For more recipes and recipe swapping, go visit Cooper Boone at: www.CoopersKitchenUSA.Com