Red beet soup with tomatoes and basil – Medical Medium and vegan
This red beet soup is light, sweet and easy to make. Mixed with tomatoes and fresh basil, it’s packed with vibrant colours that will cheer up your day. Perfect for a cozy lunch or a light dinner, this soup is both comforting and energizng.
Cooked red beets
The base of this soup is a rustic, yet classic mix of red beets cooked in a simple, flavorful broth with a bouquet of red onion, carrot and celery.
In Holland we have summer beets and winter beets. When cooked in cubes the summer beets only take about 20 minutes. Winter beets will usually take a little longer, about an hour. You can check if they are done by testing with a fork whether they’re soft.
Tomatoes
For this soup I prefer not to overcook the tomatoes. I just let them get warm en then puree them with the beets. Be sure to use ripe tomatoes: they burst with flavour and add extra sweetness to the soup.
Basil
Who doesn’t love basil!? Just be sure to add the basil after you mixed the beets and the potatoes. Don’t cook the basil at all. It’s a fragile herb which, in my option, is at its best when eaten raw.
Broth
I like to make this soup with a simple vegetable broth. If you follow the Medical Medium protocol you can use the healing broth. If you don’t eat vegan you can use chicken stock. But, if you don’t have any of those available, you can even use water. Because you will start this soup by preparing a simple, yet classic French ‘mirepoix’ or Italian ‘soffritto’, which I always call a bouquet. And this will become a broth in itself.
Bouquet
Beside pre cooked broth, I use a combination of red onion, carrot and celery. This forms the base of almost any French or Italian soup. Just chop everything up in small pieces. Or as the French say: cut the vegetables ‘brunoise’. Combine the vegetables with two bay leaves and you are good to go. Because of the smell and the colours I always refer to this as a bouquet. I’m not even quite sute if this is Dutch or I made it up myself.
Extra virgin olive oil
I like to fry the bouquet in a bit of extra virgin olive oil. This is the Mediterranean style of preparing a bouquet.
But it’s not necessary to use oil. You can bake the bouquet Medical Medium style, with just a bit if water. So you can eat this soup complete oil free.
Red beet soup with tomatoes and basil
This recipe may contain
affiliate linksEquipment
- soup pan
Ingredients
- 4 red beets
- 2 tomatoes or 1 large
- 1 lemon
- 1 small red onion
- 1 stalk cellery
- 1 carrot about the same size as the celery stalk
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 cups MM healing broth or other vegetable broth, chicken stock or water
- 1 large handful basil or more to taste
Optional
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Cut the onion, carrot and celery brunoise: in small (¼ inch) cubes. This will become your 'bouquet'.
- Bake the bouquet in some olive oil. Or 'bake' Medical Medium style in a little bit if water.
- Add the bay leaves.
- Peel the beets, dice and add.
- Juice the lemon and add.
- Add the broth (or stock or water). Let it simmer for 20 minutes.
- Wash and cut the tomato(es).
- Take out the bay leaves. Add the tomatoes.
- Mix well with the blender.
- Add most of the basil, but keep a few nice leaves aside to use as topping.
- Add the maple syrup. Mix again briefly.
- Serve with some basil leaves on top.
Did you make this recipe or do you have any questions? Just leave a comment!