Roasted Beet Soup with Crème Fraîche

This recipe uses crème fraîche as garnish, crème fraîche is a thick fermented cream popularized in Normandy, France.  It has a slightly nutty flavour and is useful in both desserts and savoury dishes.  In your own cooking you can easily obtain crème fraîche at a local gourmet store or, alternately, it is available for order at websites such as Amazon.com.  For example, in the United States, Cream Fresh, Crème Fraiche is a very suitable garnish for this recipe.

Health is Wealth highly recommends you try this classic ingredient in your cooking to give it a little extra flair! 

1/2 pound red beets (about 3 medium)
1 1/2 teaspoons butter
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1 leek (white and pale green parts only), chopped
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 celery stalk, chopped
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350°F. Wrap beets in foil and roast until tender when pierced with fork, about 1 hour. Cool. Peel beets. Cut 1/4 of 1 beet into 1/4-inch cubes; reserve for garnish. Cut remaining beets into 1/2-inch pieces.

Melt butter with oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add leek, onion, and celery and cook until beginning to brown, stirring frequently, about 13 minutes. Stir in ginger, allspice, white pepper, and 1/2-inch beet pieces. Cook until vegetables begin to stick to bottom of pot, stirring frequently, about 7 minutes. Add 2 cups water, bay leaf, thyme sprig, and parsley sprig. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 25 minutes. Remove bay leaf, thyme sprig, and parsley sprig. Cool soup slightly. Working in batches, puree soup in blender with cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly, cover, and refrigerate.)

Gently rewarm soup (do not boil). Divide between 2 bowls. Garnish each with 1 tablespoon crème fraîche. Sprinkle with reserved beet cubes.

To garnish soup as pictured, spoon two tablespoons crème fraîche into one corner of a resealable plastic bag. Cut tip off corner and pipe heart atop each serving of soup.



Source: Roasted Beet Soup with Crème Fraîche