beetroot potato soup

Oh oh, it's been quite a while. And, to be perfectly honest, this post was initiated by my friends questions to send them the recipe for this soup. So I thought it was time for a food post. Unfortunately the light fades from 3pm (still!), so when the soup was finished I had to picture it in artificial light, which I hate, so I put this picture down to the end and instead show you the main ingredients of this wonderful soup. Which is a product of chance, I just put together what was in my kitchen and served it for friends on a christmas dinner and they loved it. So I made it three times since then.
It is basically potatoes mixed with beetroot and seasoned with ginger, cinnamon, chili and cardamom, as you can see in the picture. Since in this season there are really few intensely colored vegetables or fruits I love using beetroot with its gorgeous color. I love how it colors everything when you cut it (this might be a subjective enjoyment).



So here is how you make it*:

Sauté chopped onions and dried chili, add the potatoes, cut in rather big chunks. Deglaze with (any) white wine and fill with chicken or vegetable broth. Add the beetroot and cardamom capsules, bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender, mash with a masher, but leave some big chunks (I like chunks in my soup). Then add cinnamon, salt and pepper and freshly grated ginger**. You might also add parsley, parsnip, carrots, whatever you like or have at home.

And this is how it looks in artificial light. I added some fresh goat cheese, because I used too much chili and had no parsley at home.




*Sorry, no precise measurements, this is a spontaneous soup.

**I suppose this is the secret ingredient, freshly grated ginger. Since I use a ginger grater everything turns out amazing, ginger tea, ginger soup, ginger in salad or in my morning porridge. I have given it as a present a dozen times this winter already and everyone loves it.