SPICY BEETS SOUP

Original recipe created by Joseph & Mihail Romero Baseyevski for the Buddha Hostel Medellin, and dedicated specially to our wonderful guests, Rachel & Yosuke.

Recipe: Spicy Beets Soup

 

A delicious, colorful soup made with beets and veggies to be served hot.

Yield	4 servings
Time	1 hour 15 minutes
Tools	large saucepan or Dutch oven wooden spoon blender or food processor small saucepan
Ingredients	¼ c olive oil 3 table spoons of butter. 1 big beet, diced and chopped 1 small onion, chopped 1 large bell pepper (any color*), seeded and diced 1 medium potato ½-1 t salt 1 t red pepper flakes 1½-2 c vegetable stock 2 table spoon of pannang (Mae ploy) curry paste. Rosemary Thyme 1 table sppon of mustard.
Directions	Heat the olive oil in the large saucepan with the butter. Add the onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except the stock and the curry paste and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the beets, potatoes etc are tender, about 45 minutes or 1 hour. Pour half of the soup into the blender and purée, followed by the other half. Meanwhile, put the stock in the small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Optional: if you want a smoother soup, you can sieve it at this point. Return the soup to the saucepan, stir in the stock (use more for a thinner soup), taste, and season. Blend ina ball with stock the curry paste and the mustard put it into the saucepan with all the rest of the soup and simmer for about 15 minutes. Serve hot  , with any of these toppings: crème fraîche sour cream plain yogurt    chives dill scallions

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Soup With Minted Creme Fraiche

Makes 4 appetizer servings

Minted Crème Fraîche:

• 1/4cup crème fraîche
• 11/2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh mint leaves, plus nice sprigs for garnish
• 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar

Soup:

• 5 large red bell peppers
• 21/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 cup chopped red onion
• Kosher salt or similar
• 1 tablespoon of panela or firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups water
• Finely ground black pepper

To make Minted Crème Fraîche: In a small bowl stir together the crème fraîche, sliced mint and sugar. Cover and refrigerate overnight to let the mint flavor the crème. Strain out the mint; keep crème cold until ready to use.

To make soup: Roast the red peppers over a hot grill or under a broiler on a foil-lined pan about 5 to 6 inches from the heat source. With either method, turn them often until the skin is charred on all sides. Put the charred peppers in a large bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit until cool enough to handle. Pull out the cores and pull off the charred skins; reserve any juices. Pull the peppers into pieces and scrape out the seeds. Do not rinse the peppers or you’ll wash away flavorful juices.

In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, heat the oil over medium, add the onion and a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are very soft and fragrant but not browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high, add the roasted peppers and the juices, the brown sugar and the white wine and simmer until the wine has cooked down to a glaze, 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the 3 cups water (it should just barely cover the peppers; if not, add a bit more) and simmer until they’re completely tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Purée the soup in a blender and pass it through a medium strainer to get out any stray seeds or lumps. Taste and season well with salt and black pepper.

Serve soup warm or chilled. To serve, ladle the soup into shallow bowls, drizzle on some Minted Crème Fraîche and some olive oil. Decorate with a mint sprig.

Bell Pepper Soup

 

Recipe: Bell Pepper Soup

 
A delicious, colorful soup made with sweet peppers that can be served hot or cold.

Yield	4 servings
Time	1½ hours
Tools	large saucepan or Dutch oven wooden spoon blender or food processor small saucepan
Ingredients	¼ c olive oil 1 small onion, chopped 4 large bell peppers (any color*), seeded and diced 1 medium potato ½-1 t salt 1 t red pepper flakes 1½-2 c vegetable stock
Directions	Heat the olive oil in the large saucepan. Add the onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except the stock and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the peppers are tender, about 1 hour. Pour half of the soup into the blender and purée, followed by the other half. Meanwhile, put the stock in the small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Optional: if you want a smoother soup, you can sieve it at this point. Return the soup to the saucepan, stir in the stock (use more for a thinner soup), taste, and season. Serve hot or cold, with any of these toppings: crème fraîche sour cream plain yogurt    chives scallions Coriander
Notes	*Green peppers are acceptable, but red, orange, or yellow peppers will make the nicest soup.