The daylight hours are distinctly increasing and spring is almost upon us. Peak soup season is almost at an end so to celebrate the end our lovely cold season, I thought I’d share a ‘farewell winter’ recipe with you in this Growhampton blog.

Caramalised Onion and Beetroot Soup - sounds fancy eh? Well, this recipe was shared with me by University of Roehampton student and Growhampton volunteer, Celia Briseid, and is super easy and basically has only two ingredients - Beetroot and Onions! You just have to add a few extra things to liven it up a little.  

So here‘s what you need:

3-4 medium sized beetroots (chopped)
1 large onion (sliced)
800-900mL vegetable stock (1 cube should do it)
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. coconut or olive oil
1 tbsp. parmesan cheese or 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast for vegans (I’m not vegan, but used the yeast as I think it creates a really nice flavour)
S&P

Optional:

2 tbsp. natural yoghurt
3-4 potatoes with skin, for oven roasted croutons.

If you wish to have oven roasted croutons with your soup, then start by pre-heating the oven to 200°C. Dice the potatoes, toss them into a baking tray and cover with coconut or olive oil, S&P and I also use some dried thyme because it tastes amazing! Put in the oven and basically just leave it in there while you're preparing and cooking the soup. They should be done at about the same time as the soup is. Just remember to stir up the potatoes once in a while so they are evenly roasted.

Now for the soup – start by melting butter and oil in a large pot. Toss in your onion and leave until it is slightly browned and gives off a sweet smell, around five minutes, remember to constantly stir. Then put in your chopped beetroots, stir and lightly sauté for two minutes. Add your stock and leave to boil for around 20 minutes until the beetroots are tender. Take your pot off the heat and blend it until it’s a smooth consistency. Then add your cheese or nutritional yeast and stir in.

I also added two tablespoons of natural yoghurt, just because it was there is my fridge and needed to be used, and it worked out really well. Serve in a bowl and top with your potato croutons, a swoosh of olive oil and some finely chopped herbs to garnish right at the end – parsley works great or a little more finely chopped thyme is also lovely – enjoy!

Happy Souping, Joel

Joel Williams is the Grower for the University of Roehampton Students’ Union’s Growhampton project