July 2006 - Baked Beetroot & Apple Soup

I seemed to whiz through doing recipes for this month but I have been really slack with blogging about them. It is not really a loss of words, just a bit of a loss of motivation. However I have had a bit of a loss of motivation in most areas lately. On days when I don't have a clearly defined cooking plan I have tended to be eating fairly average food. I guess that I am just going to have to start making some clearly defined menus for a while.

There were a couple of options from this issue. I really liked the look of Tobie Puttock's Roasted potatoes with milk, rosemary and garlic. It is basically a potato bake but without the cream of a regular recipe. I am sure it would be very nice but I was looking for something a bit lighter and something that didn't require making a bunch of other stuff with it.

I did quickly consider making Valli's Lentil & vegetable cottage pie. I have, however, made it before. It is very good and I would highly recommend it for a meat-free meal. I also considered Bill Granger's Spicy Tomato Soup. I do make tomato soup, I have a tomato & basil soup that I got from a Taste Cook's Club Challenge that is terrific. This soup uses canned tomatoes. I think that canned tomatoes are great for a lot of uses but when the tomato is the star of the dish like this soup I am firmly of the belief that fresh is best and mid-winter is not an ideal time to be attempting to locate quality fresh tomatoes for making soup.

In the end I decided to make Valli Little's Baked Beetroot & Apple Soup. This was a fantastic soup and so easy to make. I would suggest having a pair of gloves on hand for the peeling and grating of the beets or they will stain your hands and pretty pink colour. The apple adds a bit of sweetness and the lemon juice a bit of tang. It is made nice and rich by the cream. I actually think that this would be even better if creme fraiche was used instead of cream. This would make a wonderful starter but also made a very nice meal with the addition of a soda bread.