Chilled beetroot soup with whipped goats cheese & deep fried capers

Chilled beetroot soup with whipped goats cheese & deep fried capers

Makes about 1 litre of soup and serves 4 to 8 depending on how hungry you are

To cook the beetroot

2 large beetroot

white wine vinegar, brown sugar & salt ( see method for amounts)

½ teaspoon toasted fennel seeds

½ teaspoon toasted coriander seeds

½ teaspoon toasted peppercorns

Place the beetroot in a medium sized pot and cover well with water. For every litre of water add 50mls of vinegar, 50g sugar and 20g of salt. Add the spices. Bring the pot to the boil and simmer for about an hour and a half until the beetroot is tender. Set the pot aside to cool in the cooking liquid

While the beets are cooking prepare the tomato base

1 small onion, finely chopped

5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 tomatoes roughly chopped

¼ t smoked paprika

1T sherry vinegar

1T brown sugar

250 mls of water

salt to taste

Sweat the onion, garlic and a pinch of salt in a little cooking oil in a small pot. When the onion mixture is well cooked and translucent stir in the paprika followed by the sugar and vinegar. Let the vinegar reduce until it is starting to stick on the pan. Add the tomatoes and the water and a little extra salt to taste. Simmer the mixture for about 15 minutes until the tomatoes are well cooked.

To finish the soup

The peeled beets

150g tomato base

400ml beet cooking liquid

250ml cream

salt to taste.

Blitz all of the ingredients in a highspeed blender. Pass through a fine sieve and store in the fridge until chilled and required.

Whipped Goats Cheese

200g    soft goats cheese

50g      cream

salt and pepper to taste.

Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and whip until smooth.

Deep Fried capers

Carefully heat about 2cm of cooking oil in a small pot. Remove 2 tablespoons of capers from their brine and pat dry. When the oil is just beginning to smoke very carefully spoon the capers in. The oil will be very hot. When the capers have crisped and browned use a slotted spoon to remove from them from the oil and drain them on a paper towel.

To Serve

Place a healthy dollop of the whipped goats cheese in a bowl, pour the soup around and garnish the cheese with the crushed capers, a little chopped parsley and some extra virgin olive oil.